Resources and Events
Resources
International Investment Arbitration and Public Policy website launched
A website launched in late September, called International Investment Arbitration and Public Policy (IIAPP), offers a searchable database of materials in known arbitrations under investment treaties. Developed by a research team under the coordination of Professor Gus Van Harten of Osgoode Hall Law School, the website allows users to identify cases that engage policy areas such as agriculture, environmental protection, health, industrial policy, public contracting, and taxation. It also includes information on the appointment records of arbitrators, as well as general information on the system of international investment arbitration. The website serves as an open access research tool on investment arbitration and its implications for public policy. Professor Van Harten, the author of “Investment Treaty Arbitration and Public Law”, also intends the website to highlight the case for more openness, independence, and public accountability in the international investment-law system. The IIAPP website can be accessed at www.iiapp.org.
World Investment Report 2011
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2011
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) has released its 2011 edition of its flagship World Investment Report (WIR). The report finds that global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows rose 5 per cent to US$1.244 trillion in 2010. However, such flows were still some 15 per cent below their pre-crisis average and nearly 37 per cent below their peak in 2007. With respect to policy developments, the WIR finds that one-hundred-and-seventy-eight international investment treaties were signed in 2010, including 54 new bilateral investment treaties, to reach a total of almost 6,100 agreements. Twenty of the 54 BITs signed in 2010 were between developing countries and/or transition economies, as were four of the 11 other IIAs, a trend possibly related to developing countries’ growing role as outward investors. Another twenty of the 54 BITs concluded in 2010 were re-negotiated ones. With thousands of treaties, many ongoing negotiations and multiple dispute-settlement mechanisms, UNCTAD argues that the IIA regime has come close to a point where it is too big and complex to handle for governments and investors alike. Yet it offers protection to only two-thirds of global FDI stock and covers only one-fifth of possible bilateral investment relationships. To provide full coverage, a further 14,100 bilateral treaties would be required. As regards investment disputes, there were at least 25 new treaty-based investor-state arbitrations initiated in 2010 – the lowest number filed annually since 2001. This brought the total of known cases filed to 390 by the end of the year. In 2010, the total number of countries involved in investment treaty arbitrations grew to 83: fifty-one developing countries, 17 developed countries and 15 economies in transition. The report is available at: http://www.UNCTAD.org/Templates/WebFlyer.asp?intItemID=6018&lang=1
International Investment Law and Sustainable Development: Key cases from 2000–2010
International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2011
This book summarizes and analyzes select decisions issued between 2000 and 2010 by arbitral tribunals in investor–state arbitrations. In contrast to other books on bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and other investment agreements, it examines the decisions with the aim of highlighting how they may impact sustainable development. Through such issues as jurisdiction, the interpretation of states’ substantive treaty obligations, and the use and availability of defences, the book highlights how the decisions affect the scope of the treaties and may impact the will and ability of governments to advance their domestic goals and policies. The book also contains two organizational charts: one listing the issues addressed in each of the roughly 20 cases included in the book, and one grouping the cases by their relevant common issues. The book is available at: http://www.IISD.org/pdf/2011/int_investment_law_and_sd_key_cases_2010.pdf
The ICSID Caseload – Statistics, Issue 2011-2
ICSID Secretariat, 2011
This new issue of the ICSID Caseload – Statistics provides an updated profile of the ICSID caseload, historically and for the Centre’s fiscal year 2011. It is based on cases registered or administered by ICSID as of June 30, 2011. As in the previous issue, this document examines: the number of cases registered under the ICSID Convention and Additional Facility Rules; the number of other cases administered by the ICSID Secretariat; the basis of consent to ICSID jurisdiction invoked in registered arbitration and conciliation cases; the geographic distribution of ICSID cases by the State party to the dispute; the economic sectors involved in ICSID disputes; the outcomes in ICSID arbitration and conciliation proceedings, (including further information on disputes decided by arbitral tribunals); the nationality and geographic origins of arbitrators, conciliators and ad hoc committee members appointed in ICSID proceedings, and outcomes in annulment proceedings under the ICSID Convention. The document is available at: http://icsid.worldbank.org/ICSID/FrontServlet?requestType=ICSIDDocRH&actionVal=CaseLoadStatistics
Events
October
3-7
UNCITRAL Working Group II, 2000 to present: Arbitration and Conciliation, 54th session, New York, http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/index.html
11
Alternatives to Litigation in a Civil Society, International Centre for Dispute Resolution and the American Arbitration Association, Dublin, Ireland, http://www.aaauonline.org/courseSection.aspx?course=297
17-19
The Fifth Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators, Kampala, Uganda, investmentlaw@IISD.org
26-27
Sixth Columbia International Investment Conference: The Resource Boom and FDI in Africa,
Faculty House, Columbia University, New York, http://www.vcc.columbia.edu/content/sixth-columbia-international-investment-conference-resource-boom-and-fdi-africa
November
4-6
2011 Foreign Direct Investment International Moot Competition, London, United Kingdom, www.fdimoot.org/2011/
8
Sixth Annual Lecture on International Commercial Arbitration, Washington D.C., United States, http://www.wcl.american.edu/arbitration/annuallecture.cfm
16
Salient Issues in International Commercial Arbitration, Washington D.C., United States, www.wcl.american.edu/arbitration
2012
March
28-31
ASIL 106th Annual Meeting – Confronting Complexity, American Society of International Law, Washington, D.C., United States, http://www.asil.org/annual-meeting.cfm
