Transparency In International Trade And Investment Dispute Settlement

First Published in 2013. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

While its importance in domestic law has long been acknowledged, transparency has until now remained largely unexplored in international law. This study of transparency issues in key areas such as international economic law, environmental law, human rights law and humanitarian law brings together new and important insights on this pressing issue. Contributors explore the framing and content of transparency in their respective fields with regard to proceedings, institutions, law-making processes and legal culture, and a selection of cross-cutting essays completes the study by examining transparency in international law-making and adjudication.

This in-depth commentary analyses the new UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-Based Investor-State Arbitration.

This is the first book to tackle investment law and trade law jointly, and to compare the principles, rules, and dispute-settlement mechanisms of investment agreements with the multilateral framework of the WTO/GATS. Among the many invaluable questions the book addresses are the following: What are the substantive rules that apply to investment in services under investment agreements and the GATS? How do these disciplines differ? Which offers the best protection for investors in services and do they affect the governments’ policymaking capacity? Who can gain access to investor-State arbitration and WTO dispute settlement? The in-depth analysis, supported by an extensive review of existent jurisprudence, provides a thorough explanation of treaty standards like most favoured nation, national treatment, fair and equitable treatment, domestic regulation, and transparency, as well as procedural rules on access to the dispute-settlement mechanisms and enforcement procedures.

This paper, part of a series on issues in international investment agreements (IIAs), discusses key issues that influence State and corporate approaches to the question of transparency in international investment relations. Topics examined include: the nature and extent of transparency obligations in IIAs and other international instruments, as they apply to the home country, the host country and the foreign investor; the content of the transparency obligation, including the modalities employed to implement transparency, time limits and exceptions; links between transparency and other general issues addressed in IIAs; and the significance of different approaches to transparency for economic development in individual countries.

Until now, the resolution of international commercial and investment disputes has been dominated almost exclusively by international arbitration. But that is changing. Whilst they may be complementary mechanisms, international mediation and conciliation are now coming to the fore. Mediation rules that were in disuse gather momentum, and dispute settlement centres are introducing new mediation rules. The European Union is encouraging international mediation in both the commercial and investment spheres. The 2019 Singapore Mediation Convention of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is aiming to ensure enforcement of international commercial settlement agreements resulting from mediation. The first investor-State disputes are mediated under the International Bar Association (IBA) rules. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)'s conciliation mechanism is resorted to more often than in the past. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has recently administered its first mediation case based on a bilateral investment treaty, and a new training market on mediation is flourishing. Mediation in Commercial and Investment Disputes brings together a line-up of outstanding, highly-qualified experts from academia, mediation and arbitration institutions, and international legal practice, to address this highly topical, complex subject from a variety of angles.

"Organized thematically rather than alphabetically, the subject is split into four principal sections: the foundations and architecture of international economic law, its principles, its main regulatory areas, and the future challenges that it faces. Comprising over 250 entries..., traditional international economic law subject matter is supplemented by coverage of newly developing areas. Thus, the concepts and rules of trade, investment, finance and international tax law are found alongside entries discussing the relationship of international economic law with environmental protection, social standards, development, and human rights."--

This book provides an original and critical analysis of the most contentious subjects being negotiated in the China–EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It focuses on the pathway of reforming investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) from both Chinese and European perspectives in the context of the China–EU CAI and beyond. The book is divided into three parts. Part I examines key and controversial issues of the China–EU CAI negotiations, including market access, sustainable development and human rights, as well as comparing distinct features between the China–EU CAI and the China–US BIT. Part II concentrates on the institutional reform of investor-state arbitration with an extensive analysis of the EU’s approach to replacing the private nature of investment arbitration with the public nature of an investment court. Part III addresses the core substantive and procedural issues concerning ISDS, such as the role of domestic courts in investment dispute settlement, the status of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as investors, transparency and the protection of victims in investment dispute resolution. This book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of international investment and trade law, particularly investment dispute settlement.