Expropriation in investment arbitration concerns two notions: (1) each State’s right to exercise sovereignty over its territory and (2) each State’s obligation to respect properties belonging to foreigners. The first means that a State may, in special circumstances, expropriate a foreign investor’s property. The second means that the expropriation of foreign-held properties will only be […]
ICSID Arbitration
Fair and Equitable Treatment in Investment Arbitration
Fair and equitable treatment is a prominent standard of protection in investment arbitration disputes, which is present in most bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”).[1] The standard has evolved in post-World War II treaties. The 1948 Havana Charter for an International Trade Organization is said to be the first treaty to include “just and equitable treatment” for […]
Moral Damages in Investment Arbitration
Under public international law, the right to claim moral damages is enshrined in Article 31(2) of the Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts pursuant to which the obligation of a State to make full reparation for the injury by the internationally wrongful act includes “any damage, whether material or moral”. The commentary […]
Denial of Justice in International Arbitration
Denial of justice in international arbitration concerns acts or omissions of a State’s judiciary for which a State may be internationally liable. Although the judiciary is a functionally independent body from a State’s executive and government, it is still a State’s organ. As a result, States may be held internationally liable for the acts and […]
Human Rights Law and Investment Arbitration
Human rights law is relevant in the realm of investment arbitration. This does not come as a surprise: both investors and host States may turn to public international law provisions, including human rights treaties, to reinforce their respective positions or to put forward autonomous claims. While little attention was initially given to human rights law […]
Effective Means Provision in Investment Arbitration
In addition to typical standards of investment protection such as fair and equitable treatment, national treatment or most-favored nation treatment, investment treaties sometimes contain an effective means of asserting claims and enforcing rights provision, commonly known as an “effective means provision“. This provision figures mainly in investment treaties concluded by the USA, such as the […]
MFN Clauses in Investment Arbitration
Most-Favoured-Nation Clauses, or MFN Clauses, figure in the vast majority of investment protection treaties. They are intended to ensure “that a host country extends to the covered foreign investor and its investments, as applicable, treatment that is no less favourable than that which it accords to foreign investors of any third country.”[1] By according such […]
ICSID Arbitration
ICSID arbitration refers to arbitral proceedings conducted under the aegis of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (the “ICSID Centre”), established by Article 1 of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the “Convention”), which entered into force on 14 October 1966. The Convention provides […]
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or the ICSID, was established under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States ad Nationals of the Other States, also called the Washington or the ICSID Convention,[1] adopted on 18 March 1965, which entered into force “30 days after the date of deposit of […]
