Eu Human Rights International Investment Law And Participation

This book demonstrates how human rights obligations of the EU foreign constitution can be operationalized in the realm of international economic regulation. The content is divided into three major parts. The first outlines the legal foundations needed for the EU to become a shaper of international investment law, which include the general principles and objectives of EU external policies, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, international human rights and the international investment competences of the EU. The second part demonstrates the current international investment regime’s incompatibility with human rights interests, while the third analyzes two mechanisms stemming from trade Law – ex-ante human rights impact assessments and civil society monitoring bodies – and explores whether they could mitigate the current inequalities in the protection of rights. The potential of these mechanisms, the book argues, lies in their capacity to ensure a comprehensive assessment of all interests at stake, and to empower traditionally marginalized rights-holders to make, shape and contest the international investment regime.

The topic of this book is the participation of the EU in international dispute settlement. It aims to provide the reader with an appraisal of the most problematic aspects connected with the participation of a sui generis legal subject such as the EU to international dispute settlement mechanisms in a State-centric international law. In particular, the publication dwells on the question of how to make possible an effective participation in disputes while at the same time preserving the specific characteristics (i.e. the autonomy) of the EU legal order. It does so by outlining different models and proposing the internalization model adopted under EU investment agreements as a possible paradigm. It is aimed at academics, practitioners and graduate students as well as EU officials and judges who should find the issues discussed both useful and of interest for staying up-to-date on the scholarly discussion and of their relevance to case law. Luca Pantaleo is a Lecturer in International and European Law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands. He obtained a PhD in International and EU Law in 2013 at the University of Macerata in Italy and was previously a Senior Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Institute and Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg.

This book explores the interaction between the EU and international investment law, both at the internal level, namely within the EU internal market, and at the external level, i.e. in the context of its relations with third States. The joint treatment of these dimensions reveals that the EU has assumed an ostensibly ambivalent attitude towards international investment law. At the internal level, it has consistently asserted that intra-EU international investment agreements (IIAs) are not compatible with EU law and advocated their termination. At the external level, by contrast, it has eagerly deployed IIAs to develop its post-Lisbon international investment policy. The book finds that beneath this apparent ambivalence towards international investment law ultimately lies the EU's attempt to impose, both internally and externally, its own original model of regulation of cross-border investment. It then argues that the EU adopted this approach with a view to supporting its internal market, enhancing its external influence, and, ultimately, pursuing long-term 'federal aspirations'. Finally, the book identifies the legal and political obstacles that have curtailed the EU's efforts at both the internal and the external level.

Sustainable Development in EU Foreign Investment Law offers a clear and convincing assessment of how the EU contributes to the ongoing debate on sustainable development integration in international investment agreements.

The rapidly growing number of investors’ disputes with states and the approach of arbitral tribunals, perceived by some, whether rightly or not, as being too investor-friendly, underlie a contentious debate about the need to strike a more effective balance between investors’ rights under international investment agreements (IIAs) and the right of states to pursue legitimate regulation in the public interest. In this regard the European Union, with the exclusive external competence in foreign direct investment vested in it under the Lisbon Treaty, is emerging as the leader and driving force in the future development of international investment law. This book examines the competence of the EU to conclude investment treaties in the light of the investment protection rules of IIAs, explores how far the EU regime for cross-border investment and investors’ rights under IIAs can be considered comparable, and brings about an extensive analysis of existing agreements of Member States and their compatibility with EU law, with detailed investigation of how the potentially conflicting obligations of Member States under the two regimes can be reconciled. The book covers such elements of the debate as the following: • ‘standards of treatment’ under IIAs; • investment-related provisions of EU law; • dispute settlement mechanisms and the conduct of investment disputes; • how recent controversies over bilateral investment treaties (BITs) shape emerging EU international investment policy; • effect of political and institutional interests; • transitional arrangements for BITs between Member States and third countries established by Regulation 1219/2012; • CJEU decisions concerning BITs concluded between EU Member States and third countries; • significant arbitral awards involving intra-EU BITs; • allocation of international responsibility for breaches of investors’ rights; • intra-EU dimension of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT); • possibilities for review of arbitral awards by courts of Member States; • desirability of international protection of foreign investment in developed countries; and • role of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention) The author provides a number of well-grounded recommendations, taking into account throughout the legitimate interests and expectations of individual investors. As an invaluable commentary on developments related to the interplay between international investment law and EU law, and a guide to ameliorating the tensions and controversies surrounding this relationship, this book will appeal to a wide variety of readers. The questions dealt with are faced not only by negotiators and others involved in policymaking in the area of foreign investment, but also by specialists in international investment law, investment arbitration, EU international relations law, and anyone involved in cross-border law, as well as others who encounter these questions in the course of their professional or academic activities.

EU Law and International Investment Arbitration thoroughly examines the compatibility of ISDS provisions in extra-EU BITs and the Energy Charter Treaty with the autonomy of EU law, and is a must read for all magistrates and investment practitioners involved in investment arbitrations in or with the EU, as well as for academics interested in the participation of the EU to international dispute resolution or the constitutional construction of the EU judicial system.

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty entails sweeping changes with respect to foreign investment regulation. Most prominently, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) now contains in its Article 207 an explicit competence for the regulation of foreign direct investment as part of the Common Commercial Policy (CCP) chapter. With this new competence, the EU will become an important actor in the field of international investment politics and law. The new empowerment in the field of international investment law prompts a multitude of questions. This volume analyzes in depth the new “post-Lisbon situation” in the area of investment policy, provokes further discussion and offers new approaches.

Increasingly, transnational corporations, developed countries and private actors are broadening the boundaries of their investments into new territories, in search of a higher return on capital. This growth in direct foreign investment involves serious concerns for both the investor and host state. Various exponents of international civil society and non-governmental organisations persuasively claim that such growth in foreign investments constitutes potential and serious hazards both to the environment and the fundamental rights and freedoms of local populations. This book explores from an international law perspective the complex relationship between foreign investments and common concerns, i.e. values that do not coincide, or do not necessarily coincide, with the interests of the investor and of the host state. It pays particular attention to the role of the main international development banks in reconciling the needs of foreign investors with the protection of common concerns, such as the environment, human rights and labour rights. Among its collection of essays, the volume asks how much "regulatory space" investment law leaves; whether international investment law is an effective means of balancing contrasting interests, and whether investment arbitration currently constitutes a mechanism of global governance. In collecting the outlooks of various experts in human rights, environmental and international economic law, this book breaks new ground in exploring how attention to its legal aspects may help in navigating the relationship between foreign investment and common concerns. In doing so, the book provides valuable insights into the substantive issues and institutional aspects of international investment law.