scholarly journals The Role of Sub-Regional Systems in Shaping International Investment Law-Making: The Case of the Visegrád Group

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-153
Author(s):  
Federica Cristani
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Main Question ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Regional System ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Advocacy Role ◽  
Visegrad Group ◽  
Law Making

AbstractThe present chapter focuses on the role of the Visegrád group (or V4, comprising Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic) in international investment law-making. The chapter starts with a brief overview of the V4 group as a sub-regional system in Europe, including its modus operandi and main achievements in the field of economic cooperation. Subsequently, it turns to the regulation of foreign direct investment (FDI), both at the level of each V4 state and at EU level—with particular regard to the implication of the EU’s exclusive competence on FDI. Special attention is paid to the approach of the V4 countries towards the question of termination of intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (BITs)—including an overview of the related objections to jurisdiction that the four countries have raised over the years in investor-state arbitrations based on intra-EU BITs—and to the relationship of the V4 group with non-EU countries—especially with (selected) East Asian countries. The main question is whether—and to what extent—the V4 group as a sub-regional system has a role to play in international investment law-making. The chapter highlights the proactive and advocacy role that the V4 group has traditionally played in manifold subject-matters, including the promotion and protection of FDI, and supports the positive “soft power” the V4 may exercise in this respect.

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.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Nicolás M. Perrone
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
Investment Law

The role of the business leaders, bankers, and lawyers who promoted investment treaties and ISDS in the post-World War II period remains controversial. The introductory chapter argues that these norm entrepreneurs and their professional associations created a legal imagination about foreign investment relations which remains alive and well in both international investment law and ISDS awards. Their contribution to the progressive development of the law consisted of ideas as much as practice, particularly the way in which they collated their ideas into a vision of foreign investment relations. The chapter introduces the main features of this legal imagination, including the relevance of certain interpretations of property and contracts. It claims that grasping this imagination calls for a transnational law method, and concludes with an overview of the book.

The Treatment of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in International Investment Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Karl
Keyword(s):  
Great Majority ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
International Investment Agreements ◽  
Internationalization Strategies ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Investment Agreements

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of almost all economies, employing the great majority of the workforce, and making the biggest contribution to GDP. To some extent, they are also active as outward foreign investors or are linked to inward foreign investment through supply chains. This chapter analyses the role of international investment law for the internationalization strategies of SMEs. It explores to what extent international investment agreements specifically promote, facilitate, and protect investments involving SMEs, referring to concrete treaty examples. It also examines the risk of potential negative effects of certain IIA provisions on domestic SMEs. On the basis of this analysis, the chapter makes a number of suggestions regarding how international investment law could further improve the situation of SMEs.

The Role of Regional Courts in the Development of International Investment Law: The Case of NAFTA Chapter 11 Dispute Settlement Framework and ECtHR

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-95
Author(s):  
Collins C. Ajibo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
International Investment ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Nafta Chapter 11

AbstractRegional courts have synthesized, articulated, and elucidated certain principles of law that influence the development of international investment law. The contributions of NAFTA Chapter 11 dispute settlement framework and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), in particular, have been outstanding. For instance, NAFTA jurisprudence has guided investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals through influential precedents. Similarly, the doctrine of proportionality and the margin of appreciation doctrine which emerged from the ECtHR jurisprudence have become embedded in international investment law. Indeed, given the unique contributions of regional courts and their rapid proliferation, it can be predicted that they will play even more significant roles in the future development of principles of international investment law. Arguably, such emergent principles should be subjected to a prior scrutiny and filtering by ISDS institutions as a precondition to full incorporation into international investment law to foster their legitimacy and credibility.

International Law and Foreign Investment in Hydroelectric Industry: A Multidimensional Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 183-222
Author(s):  
Attila Tanzi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Domestic Law

The main focus of the present article is on the entanglement between four bodies of international law sensitive to foreign investment in the creation and/or operation hydroelectric industry: i.e. international investment law, human rights law, international water law and private international law to the extent that public international law rules on conflict of laws on civil liability for transboundary damage are concerned. This horizontal approach to the analysis is supplemented by a vertical one looking at the interactions between international and domestic law. Consideration of the different bodies of international law in question is associated to that of the adjudicative, and non-adjudicative, means of dispute settlement available under each such bodies of law. On that score, the role of the foreign investor in a litigation scenery will be considered, primarily as claimant, but also, prospectively, in relation to the situation in the State hosting the investment is, or may become, respondent in inter-State litigation.

International Investment Law in Central Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1089-1124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mavluda Sattorova
Keyword(s):  
International Investment ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Regional Investment ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Law Making

Despite the fact that Central Asian states have not been involved in regional investment treaty-making on a scale and thrust similar to that of ASEAN and NAFTA, their evolving approaches to international investment law merit attention, not least because of the unique geopolitical characteristics of the region. The aim of this article is to fill the gap in the existing scholarship by exploring regional characteristics of Central Asian participation in international investment law-making. It will critically evaluate the history of numerous regionalisation efforts and, through a case study of two Central Asian states, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, examine the shared patterns in the evolution of national approaches to investment protection rules. In particular, the identity of Central Asian states as rule-takers and the factors underlying the emergence of distinctive national stances on the scope and objective of investment rules will be analysed.

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