UPDATE: International Arbitration Between Foreign Investors and Host States (Investor-State Arbitration)

 

By Hernando Otero and Omar García-Bolívar

 

Hernando Otero is an international investment, arbitration and mediation attorney with experience as counsel of record and as arbitrator in international arbitrations between foreign investors and host States under the ICSID Convention, ICSID Additional Facility and the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. He is licensed to practice in Colombia, New York State and the District of Columbia. He holds a Master of Laws degree in International Law from New York University's School of Law and a bachelor's degree in law from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá-Colombia.

 

Omar García-Bolívar is an international lawyer and public policy consultant. He is also an international arbitrator listed with several arbitration fora. He is admitted to practice law in Venezuela, New York State, District of Columbia and the United States Court of International Trade. He holds law degrees from University of Edinburgh, Southern Methodist University and Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas-Venezuela.

 

Published March 2017

(Previously updated in April 2014)

See the Archive Version!

 

Table of Contents

1.     Introduction

2.     Where to Find International Investment Agreements

3.     Where to Find Institutional and Ad-Hoc Arbitration Rules

3.1. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes

3.2.  The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules

3.3.  Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, International Chamber of Commerce and Others

4.    Where to Find International Arbitration Awards and Decisions and New Developments

5.    Where to Find More Information - Leading Treatises

 

1. Introduction

International arbitration between a foreign investor and a host State results from their agreement to solve their disputes in this manner. That agreement may take the form of a contractual provision (including those in a legal stability contract or a subsequent arbitral agreement), but increasingly it is the result of a foreign investor accepting a State’s standing offer to arbitrate disputes in international investment agreements (IIAs); primarily bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and free trade agreements with an investment chapter. 

 

2. Where to Find International Investment Agreements

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), there are over 3,286 IIAs in force. States often make information about IIAs. they are party to available online in order to promote investment and increase the transparency of their investment climate. Foreign affairs and trade ministries, relevant sectoral authorities and trade and investment promotion authorities are natural sources for this information.

 

Increasingly these institutions post this information online. Some notable examples include the Office of the US Trade Representative, Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the European Commission and the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 

 

There are a number of free online databases that offer a good starting point to determine which IIA are in force. The most up-to-date database of BITs is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (or UNCTAD) International Investment Treaties Navigator, The World Bank’s Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes also has a non-comprehensive record of bilateral investment agreements but does not have copies of the texts. For its part, Kluwerarbitration.com is a subscription service offering access to Bilateral Investment treaties (BITs) register. Not all BITs on Kluwer are available in English and not all are available in full text.

 

A number of free trade agreements also have investment chapters that provide for the arbitration of disputes between foreign investors and host States. The World Trade Organization’s Regional Trade Agreements Information System is a reliable source on existing free trade agreements.  The Organization of American States’ Foreign Trade Information System (or SICE) has a comprehensive database (including texts) of both bilateral investment and free trade agreements but only  for Organization of American States member countries. Finally, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for its part has published a useful resource in the 2010 Guide to Investment Regimes of APEC Member Economies. In all cases, each agreement must be reviewed to confirm whether it affords foreign investors the choice of submitting their claims against host states to international arbitration.

 

3. Where to Find Institutional and Ad-Hoc Arbitration Rules

International contracts, national legislation and international investment agreements that provide for international arbitration between foreign investors and host States identify an arbitral institution or rules for the proceedings. International investment agreements frequently provide the Claimant with a choice of two or more institutions and the corresponding governing rules.

 

3.1. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes

A common institutional choice is the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes or ICSID. The ICSID is an arbitral forum in which independent arbitral tribunals, conciliation commissions and fact-finding committees resolve investment disputes between a foreign investor and a host State. 

 

ICSID arbitration most often takes place under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and National of other States (or ICSID Convention) and the ICSID Rules of Procedure for Arbitration Proceedings (ICSID Arbitration Rules). The ICSID Convention is an international treaty ratified and in force for 161 States. A claimant may only submit an arbitral claim under the ICSID Convention and the ICSID Rules of Procedure for Arbitration (ICSID Arbitration Rules) when both the country of nationality of the investor and the host State are parties to the ICSID Convention. An ICSID Convention arbitral award may not be appealed or subjected to other recourse except to an Annulment request for limited grounds under the Convention. In addition, a final ICSID Convention arbitral award shall be recognized and its pecuniary obligations enforced by every ICSID Convention party as a final judgment of one of its courts. See the Summary Table of Contents for the ICSID Convention, Regulations, and Rules.  

 

ICSID Center arbitration may also take place pursuant to the ICSID Additional Facility Rules when either the country of nationality of the investor or the host State (but not both) is not a party to the ICSID Convention (as has frequently been the case with some arbitration under NAFTA). In contrast to awards issued under the ICSID Convention, the losing party may attempt to set aside an ICSID Additional Facility award or one issued in other arbitral forums (see below, sections II, B and C) in the seat of arbitration or attempt to challenge or block its enforcement.

 

3.2. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Arbitration Rules

Another common choice provided in international investment agreements is to submit an arbitral claim under the 2010 United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Arbitration Rules (or UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules). The Rules provide for a non-institutional procedural framework for proceedings. The parties to the dispute however often resort to arbitral institutions such as the ICSID or the Permanent Court of Arbitration to assist the administration of proceedings.

 

3.3. Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, International Chamber of Commerce and Others

The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (ICC Court) are increasingly common choices. The ICC Court’s 2012 rules (in particular take into consideration important issues in investor-State arbitration. Other arbitral centers have occasionally been used (e.g. London Court of International Arbitration) or are positioning themselves as attractive regional for a for investment disputes.

 

4. Where to Find International Arbitration Awards and Decisions and New Developments

There are a number of sources that provide copies of awards and decisions. The ICSID website is a fundamental source for ICSID awards and decisions, and procedural details of ongoing ICSID proceedings. There are however a number of non-institutional sources. For example, Investment Treaty Arbitration is a reliable and free database of newly released awards and decisions. The Investment Claims website provides free access to decisions and fee-based access to head notes and analysis.

 

There are also some helpful treaty-specific sources. The State parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement (through the NAFTA Free Trade Commission) have agreed to make available to the public in a timely manner all documents submitted to or issued by an investment dispute arbitral tribunal, with certain exceptions for confidential business information under the applicable arbitration rules. As a result, the US Department of State (Office of the Legal Advisor), Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and Mexico’s Secretaría de Economía have very comprehensive databases of NAFTA proceedings. This approach has been embraced in the parties to the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). For its part, the Energy Charter Secretariat maintains its own database of claim arising out of the Energy Charter.

 

Keeping up with the increasing number of awards, decisions and orders may be challenging. There are a number of resources that facilitate the task. International Arbitration Case Law  is a free service with case summaries in English, Spanish and French. UNCTAD’s Database of Treaty-Based Investor-State Dispute Settlement Cases provides case abstracts for key procedural or substantive issues. The UNCTAD’s Division on Investment and Enterprise also periodically publishes topical overviews and analyses. For its part, the International Institute for Sustainable Development publishes the Investment News and Resources newsletter and thematic overviews on international investment. Finally, the subscriber Investment Arbitration Reporter  is perhaps the best source for the latest developments in the field.

 

5. Where to Find More Information