LCIL Lecture: 'The Compatibility of Appellate Mechanisms with Existing Instruments of the Investment Treaty Regime' - N Jansen Calamita

Lecture summary: As investment treaty dispute practice has begun to mature, concerns have been raised about the legitimacy of the regime and, in particular, about the legitimacy of the process of investor-state arbitration. In an attempt to address some of these concerns, the European Union has established a new model of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in its recent treaties with Canada and Vietnam. The EU’s new model entails a radical reworking of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) through, inter alia, the replacement of ad hoc arbitral tribunals with standing, treaty-based investment tribunals, staffed with judges appointed by the states parties. In addition, the EU’s new model foresees a two-tiered approach to dispute resolution, establishing first-instance and appellate bodies and allowing for appellate review as of right on issues of law and fact. Beyond its bilateral arrangements with Canada and Vietnam, the EU has indicated that it will pursue a treaty to multilateralize its new investment tribunal system.

This talk addresses the legal compatibility of the EU’s new model of ISDS with existing instruments of the investment treaty regime in two respects. First, whether the introduction of an appellate mechanism or, indeed, the more total reworking of ISDS to establish investment tribunals, renders multilateral instruments like the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention inapplicable to the modified process of ISDS. Second, how the integration of any new appellate mechanism with existing international investment treaties might technically be achieved.

N. Jansen Calamita is Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Investment Law and Policy Programme in the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He also teaches in the Faculty of Law as Research Associate Professor (CIL). Before coming to NUS in 2016, he was Director of the Investment Treaty Forum and Senior Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. He has previously held posts on the law faculties of the University of Oxford and the University of Birmingham.

Professor Calamita’s research is in general public international law, the law and policy of international investment, and international dispute settlement. He has provided expert testimony to the European Commission, the OECD, the Energy Charter Secretariat, the UK Parliament, and a host of other national governments. He previously served in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the U.S Department of State (International Claims and Investment Disputes Division) and the UNCITRAL Secretariat. He holds a Juris Doctor magna cum laude (Boston) and a Bachelor of Civil Law (Oxford). He is a Consultative Expert to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and a member of the editorial board of the Yearbook of International Law and Policy (Oxford University Press).

Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice.