On 19 January 2017, Russia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the State was not under an obligation to comply with the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) Judgement in the Yukos Case, which awarded approximately EUR 1.9 billion in compensation to the company (the largest in the ECtHR’s history), because of Russia’s breach of the European […]
From International Investment Arbitration to an Investment Court System
Will an Investment Court System be better than the current arrangements for International Investment Arbitration? The EU and Canada appear to think so. In the recently-approved and signed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada, a different approach to International Investment Arbitration is being put forward by the EU and […]
British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre
A new British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre (“BVI IAC”) was launched on 16 November 2016. This arbitration institution describes itself as an “independent not-for-profit institution” that was created to provide a “neutral, impartial, efficient and reliable dispute resolution institution in the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond.”[1] It was only on 25 May 2014 that […]
Human Rights and Investment Arbitration: Parallel Proceedings
Human rights and investment arbitration are not opposed, and in fact there is a considerable degree of overlap. The European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’) has been used as an alternative forum or supplement to Investment arbitration in multiple disputes. Even though the ECtHR and Investor-State Arbitral tribunals belong to prima facie different regimes, and […]
Transparency in Investor-State Arbitration: The Mauritius Convention
For many years, critics have complained that there was not enough transparency in investor-State arbitration. Last week, Canada made headlines by becoming only the second State to ratify the 2015 United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty Based Investor-State Arbitration (the Mauritius Convention). The Convention confirms and extends the applicability of the 2014 UNCITRAL Rules […]