Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements: A Guide to the Key Issues

Investor-state arbitration is a relatively new dispute settlement mechanism that allows foreign investors the opportunity to seek redress for damages arising out of breaches of investment-related treaty obligations by the governments of host countries. Claims are submitted to independent, international arbitration tribunals, which are called upon to interpret the treaty at hand. Because of the public interest involved in these cases, the awards of these tribunals are subject to much scrutiny and debate. Thus, it has already generated hundreds of cases and created new legal disciplines, inspiring a continuous string of legal writings.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the main issues that arise in investor-state arbitration. It accompanies the reader through the phases of such a procedure, starting with an examination of the instruments, which provide, in the overwhelming majority of the cases, the legal basis for the requests for such arbitration. It then continues with the launching of the arbitration procedure, followed by the analysis of the main jurisdictional and substantive issues that the tribunals are confronted with, and the review procedures, when there is a request for setting aside of the award. It finally looks at the post-award phase and concludes with a reflection on the role of precedent in investment arbitration.

Arbitration under International Investment Agreements: a Guide to the Key Issues contains in one volume what everybody needs to know on this evolving topic. Calling on the most renowned experts in this field, private practitioners, academics, government and international organization officials, it describes the process in all its phases from A to Z, providing a comprehensive insight in the way investor-state arbitration works from the perspective of the main actors involved. Its analyses of all key aspects of the topic are pragmatic and reliable.