ICSID Convention After 50 Years: Unsettled Issues

ICSID Convention after Fifty Years: Unsettled Issues celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention on the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention or Convention) with an overview and analysis of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) case law to date and, focusing particularly on unsettled issues, assesses possible developments in the institution’s next phase. The ICSID has played a leading role in establishing the field of foreign investment law. It is primarily due to the ICSID that it is no longer peculiar for individuals and corporations to have legal standing in claims against governments – probably the most notable development of international law of the past half century. Now, in its fiftieth year and ratified by more than 150 states, the ICSID received its 500th case in 2015.

What’s in this book:

This volume is a collection of twenty-two essays by prominent practitioners with substantial experience in investment arbitration law. The topics they cover encompass such issues as the following:

• the political and economic reasons behind the creation of the ICSID;
• admissibility and jurisdiction;
• ICSID vis-à-vis bilateral investment treaties;
• States’ concerns about the ‘partiality’ of arbitrators in favour of investors;
• proceedings involving a non-contracting State;
• applicable laws under the ICSID Convention;
• conflicting interpretations of ICSID Convention provisions;
• interaction of foreign investment and economic development;
• value of ICSID awards in the light of EU law;
• annulment of ICSID awards;
• effects of denunciation (Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela) and non-contracting States (Russia, Brazil, India);
• attribution of conduct of State-owned enterprises (SOEs);
• recognition and enforcement of ICSID arbitral awards;
• counterclaims; and
• allocation of costs.

The cases involve a broad spectrum of international economic matters, including provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty, exploitation of natural resources, electric power, transportation, construction, finance, communications, water, sanitation, agriculture, fishing and forestry, and service and trade.

How this will help you:

As a detailed response to the question whether ICSID has contributed as promised to an improvement in the investment climate and promoted the flow of private foreign capital – and as an assessment of the present and future feasibility of the ICSID system for the resolution of investment disputes by arbitration and conciliation – this book has no peers. Considering the current crisis of investment law, the book’s immediate value, not only to investors and their counsel but also to practitioners and academics, in the field of investment law and arbitration, and public international law cannot be overstated.