Third-Party Funding and Access to Justice in Investment Arbitration: Security for Costs as a Provisional Measure or a Standalone Procedural Category in the Newest Developments in International Investment Law

2021 ◽  
pp. 103-121
Author(s):  
José Ángel Rueda-García
Keyword(s):  
International Investment ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Provisional Measure ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Party Funding

Part V Remedies and Costs, 26 Third-party Funding in Investment Treaty Arbitration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blackaby Nigel ◽  
Wilbraham Alex
Keyword(s):  
International Investment ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Legal Costs ◽  
Party Funding ◽  
Investment Treaty Arbitration

This chapter discusses the issue of third-party funding in international investment arbitration. Third-party funding has become an established part of the investment arbitration landscape. Despite criticism in some quarters, tribunals and international arbitral bodies have tended to favour the view that third-party funding promotes access to justice rather than encouraging frivolous claims. Tribunals have consistently held that receipt of third-party funding is unlikely to affect a claimant’s position from a jurisdictional perspective and will not affect a claimant’s ability to recover legal costs in cases where tribunals make costs awards. The costs of third-party funding itself may be recoverable in some circumstances. There is a growing tendency among tribunals to require disclosure by funded claimants of the existence and identity of third-party funders. It is, however, unlikely that claimants will commonly be required to disclose the terms of any funding agreement except in rare cases when security for costs is being considered.

Social movements, reframing investment relations, and enhancing the application of human rights norms in international investment law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Investment Law

Abstract The recent moderate trend to increasingly apply human rights law in investment awards is accompanied by certain new investment treaties which include expressed human rights provisions. An analysis of recent investment awards indicates that though there are some ‘winds of change’ in this field, it is equally noticeable that human rights law is far from being mainstreamed in international investment law. Investment arbitration procedural law is also undergoing a process of change, and the new procedural rules tend to enhance public elements in the investment arbitral system. This study is aimed at explaining these recent legal changes, highlighting the role of social movements in reframing investment relations as well as increasing public pressure to apply human rights law. These framing changes concern broadening the frame of investment arbitration (beyond the foreign investor–host state dyad), reversing the perceived balance of power between investors and host states, and zooming-in on local individuals and communities residing in host states. The discussion on factors impeding legal change in this field emphasizes the role of the private legal culture prevalent in the investment arbitration system, which is reflected and reinforced by certain resilient socio-legal frames. Informed by this analysis, the study suggests some legal mechanisms which can mitigate the inter-partes frame, and increase the application of human rights law in investment arbitration; inter alia, rigorous transparency rules that are likely to facilitate increased public pressure on tribunals and increase the participation of social movements representing local actors in arbitral processes.

Delays Expected but Duration of Delays Unpredictable: Causes, Types, and Symptoms of Procedural Applications in Investment Arbitration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Chaisse
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Party Funding

Abstract Delays are becoming a common phenomenon in international investment arbitration and challenging the conventional belief that it is a time-effective mode of dispute resolution. These delays, majorly stemming from interim procedural applications, are known to arise due to the different interests and types of stakeholders involved in the process. This article provides an empirical analysis of such arbitration proceedings to cull out the types, nature, and effects of delay tactics in such proceedings. This article identifies three types of applications that play an increasing role in investment arbitration, namely, applications for ‘security for costs’, applications for disclosure of third-party funding, and the objections of manifest lack of legal merit of claims. Such delays can particularly become a cause of concern for investment arbitration as they have impacts beyond those which are on the parties involved.

International Investment Law and Practice in the Kingdom of Cambodia: An Evolving ‘Rule Taker’?

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 942-973
Author(s):  
Romesh Weeramantry
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Free Trade Agreements ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Court System ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Investment Agreements

Abstract Cambodia has undertaken several initiatives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), which has been growing rapidly in recent years, particularly through participating in Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) investment agreements and free trade agreements (FTAs). This article first outlines Cambodia’s arbitration law and practice, its Law on Investment, the court system, problems relating to corruption, and foreign direct investment (FDI) patterns. It then surveys trends in Cambodia’s comparatively belated signing of investment treaties, and their main contents (including recent treaties with India and Hungary, adopting very different models). The article then discusses the only investment arbitration instituted against Cambodia, which was successfully defended, followed by a comment on the future prospects for Cambodia’s investment treaty program.

scholarly journals Counterclaims and the Rule of Law in Investment Arbitration

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 33-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoko Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Rule By Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
The Law ◽  
Broad Interpretation

While the rule of law was originally developed with reference to domestic constitutional orders, it is also widely embraced by international lawyers. This essay argues that the admission of counterclaims in certain circumstances helps investment arbitration advance the rule of law on several counts. The rule of law is defined here to include not only formal elements such as rule-by-law and formal legality, but also “thicker” elements attached to certain substantive values, including fundamental human rights. The UN's work on the rule of law clearly adopts a broad interpretation of this concept. This essay examines the potential for counterclaims to bridge the gap between the lack of effective mechanisms to hold foreign investors accountable for their conduct and the extensive protection of foreign investors in international investment law. By doing so, counterclaims in investment arbitration may promote the thicker elements of the rule of law such as accountability to the law, access to justice, and fairness in the application of the law.

scholarly journals Harmonizing Commercial and Investment Arbitration: Conflict Dynamics

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-313
Author(s):  
Jaya Vasudevan
Keyword(s):  
International Investment ◽  
Commercial Arbitration ◽  
True Nature ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Arbitration Clause ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Independent Analysis ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Suitable Framework ◽  
Investment Agreements

This article provides an independent analysis of the scope and extent of arbitration under investment agreements, and the implications of the possible convergence in the process of harmonization of international commercial arbitration law.The successful settlement of any dispute depends on the compatibility of the nature of the dispute with the technique to which it is submitted for resolution. In the last decade, there was a constant increase in the number of disputes that were subjected to arbitration and a major chunk of those disputes covered a comparatively new but known area called international investment law. With economic globalization allowing the free flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in and out of a country, the existing regulatory framework in international law to standardize investment liberalization is often seen as ineffective, hence the consequent disputes. Here, arbitration offers a suitable framework for the amicable settlement of commercial disputes covering investment agreements with the assistance of bilateral or multilateral agreements between the states. Preferential trade agreements pertaining to investment often contain an arbitration clause for the settlement of future disputes between parties. At this juncture, one may find that there exists a fundamental dilemma in ascertaining the true nature of investment arbitration and how it is different from commercial arbitration. For example, the protection being offered to human rights under the purview of investment arbitration may generate doubts in the minds of investment arbitrators. In commercial arbitration, divergences in a pluralistic order become particularly relevant whereas the diverse legal cultures supported by individual constitutional frameworks have a direct impact on investment arbitration due to their practical application. The article also discusses the need for harmonized rules governing arbitration procedures while maintaining the functional dissimilarities between commercial and investment arbitration.

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