The authors identify several ways in which a WTO investment facilitation framework for development can be insulated from investor-state dispute settlement provisions in international investment agreements, and suggest specific formulations in this respect

This Concept Paper addresses some of the issues raised with respect to the development of an APEC Investment Treaty Handbook. The Paper proceeds as follows. Part 1 sets out the legal and governance challenges posed by investment treaties, giving rise to the need for a resource like the APEC...

Historically the resolution of claims under investment treaties has been confidential and private. Over the past fifteen years, however, there have been changes that require greater transparency in the arbitration of disputes between investors and states under investment treaties. The...

A notable feature of the investment treaty regime as it has developed is the way in which its rules generally apply to all covered ‘investments’ regardless of the sector in which the investment is made or the modality of investment. This one-size-fits-all approach to the application of...

In its recent treaties with Canada and Vietnam, the European Union has established a new model of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). It entails a reworking of existing structures of investor-state arbitration through, inter alia, the replacement of ad hoc arbitral tribunals with standing,...

The doctrinal role of a lawfully taken countermeasure is to serve as a defense (or circumstance precluding wrongfulness) which justifies the reacting State’s suspension of its performance of an international obligation owed to the target State. Countermeasures, however, need not be...

The absence of articulations of public goods (beyond investment protection) in most international investment treaties has led to calls for these treaties to be interpreted by reference to other areas of international law, such as international human rights law. Relying upon Article 31(3)(c) of...

The Treaty of Lisbon's grant of exclusive competence to the European Union for foreign direct investment (FDI) matters signals the beginning of a profound shift in the global landscape of FDI regulation as the international investment policies of twenty-seven states begin to be consolidated and...