Presents four studies on international investment law: one on transparency, one on the fair and equitable treatment standard, one on indirect expropriation and the right to regulate, and one on most favoured nation treatment.

This book comprehensively examines various issues regarding the scope of Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) Clauses in International Investment Agreements (IIAs), and addresses the reform, interpretation, and enforcement of IIAs with a specific focus on the MFN clause. The book begins with a study of the history and evolution of the MFN. It then presents a substantive analysis focusing on the drafting style and how it affects the scope of the MFN; rules of interpretation and arbitral case law on the scope of the MFN, procedural prerequisites to arbitration and jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals, and the implications of adopting an expansive approach to the MFN clause. The book’s argument centres on the need for arbitral tribunals to interpret the MFN in a manner that reflects the expressed intent of the parties. This requires taking into consideration the text of the MFN, its purpose, and the overall context of the IIA, rather than relying on values and assumptions that have nothing to do with the original intent of the parties. In making this argument, the book draws on Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and other interpretative rules. What sets the book apart is its comprehensive coverage of issues concerning the interpretation and application of the MFN in IIAs. At the same time, it addresses issues in connection with an expansive interpretation of MFN clauses, as well as concerns regarding the legitimacy crisis in investor-state arbitration. Accordingly, it contributes to future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) reform, while also offering a wealth of theoretical and practical insights for future treaty drafters, arbitrators, and policymakers.

A comprehensive source of information on four key issues: the definition of investor and investment; the interpretation of umbrella clauses in investment agreements; coverage of environmental, labour and anti-corruption issues; and the interaction between investment and services chapters in RTAs.

Contains two analytic sections. The first addresses an apparent growth in discriminatory practices toward cross-border investment in recent years motivated by concerns about national security and related essential concerns. The second section focuses on the new opportunities arising from FDI.

The fair and equitable treatment (‘FET’) standard is a type of protection found in BITs which has become in the last decades one of the most controversial provisions examined by arbitral tribunals. This book first examines the interaction between the ‘minimum standard of treatment’ (MST) and the FET standard and the question why States started referring to the former in their BITs. It also addresses the question whether the FET should be considered as an autonomous standard of protection under BITs. This book also examines the controversial proposition that the FET standard should now be considered as a rule of customary international law. I will show that while the practice of States to include FET clauses in their BITs can be considered as general, widespread and representative, it remains that it is not uniform and consistent enough for the standard to have crystallised into a customary rule. States also lack the necessary opinio juris when including the clause in their BITs.

This volume brings together significant contributions from leading voices in academia, the legal profession and government on the increasingly important topic of international investment and the legal system in which it operates. With the burgeoning size of international capital flows matched only by an explosion in international agreements intending to regulate the field, there is increasing potential for incoherence amongst and between treaties and arbitral decisions.Appeals Mechanism in International Investment Disputes compiles, compares and contrasts the analysis and arguments of the leading scholars, practitioners and government officials on the future of the international investment law regime. Its special emphasis is on the question of an appellate body for international investment disputes. The authors also seek ways to streamline and improve the system, channeling the benefits of free trade and investment flows to people in both the developing and emerging markets. The Appendices provide readers with extensive background material to place the chapters into context. Selected sections include concise commentaries to further illuminate the timely themes covered by the chapters. The volume is singular in its success at bringing together so many exceptional individuals on a question of growing import-how to improve the international law regime to increase prosperity and further global development. If a reader wants to know what the influential voices in international law are saying right now, and in a concise and readable format, this is the publication to have.

International investment law is in transition. Whereas the prevailing mindset has always been the protection of the economic interests of individual investors, new developments in international investment law have brought about a paradigm shift. There is now more than ever before an interest in a more inclusive, transparent, and public regime. Shifting Paradigms in International Investment Law addresses these changes against the background of the UNCTAD framework to reform investment treaties. The book analyses how the investment treaty regime has changed and how it ought to be changing to reconcile private property interests and the state's duty to regulate in the public interest. In doing so, the volume tracks attempts in international investment law to recalibrate itself towards a more balanced, less isolated, and increasingly diversified regime. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The individual chapters of this edited volume address the contents of investment agreements, the system of dispute settlement, the interrelation of investment agreements with other areas of public international law, constitutional questions, and new regional perspectives from Europe, South Africa, the Pacific Rim Region, and Latin America. Together they provide an invaluable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.