On Thursday, November 29, W&L Law Professor Susan Franck made two presentations entitled Tracking Trends in Investment Disputes: The New Data.
The first presentation was to the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, which is the leading institution for the resolution of investment treaty disputes.
The second presentation was a joint presentation to the United States Department of State’s Office of the Legal Advisor and the United States Trade Representative. The previous generation of research was used by the U.S. Department of State Report of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty in generating the 2012 U.S. Model BIT.
Here is the abstract of both presentations:
Despite the global economic crisis, international investment is on the rise and the number of investment treaties, which contain ex ante agreements requiring states to arbitrate alleged treaty violations, continues to increase. The convergence of these factors means that approximately 68% of foreign investment, approximately US$13 trillion, is now protected by at least one international investment agreement (IIA) and subject to arbitration. As disputes follow investment and the related legal rights, it is no surprise that investors have exercised their legal options. Yet there has been dissatisfaction with ITA, and some make assertions about systemic integrity with little (or no) data to back up their claims. This presentation will provide an antidote by exploring the current status of ITA by offering an empirical assessment of data that is current to 2012. It will focus on key elements including the institutional actors (investors, states and non-disputing parties), institutions involved, the lawyers pursuing claims, the amounts investors claimed, outcomes, time required to secure outcomes, and the fiscal costs of pursuing ITA. The objective of the presentation is to provide information to promote a lively and informed policy debate about the future of international investment law and dispute resolution.
Data related to this material is forthcoming in Professor Franck’s book with Oxford University Press: Investment Treaty Arbitration: Myths, Realities and Costs.
