International Economic Law

Page 1 of 46

Feature post image

Shoehorning Substance into a Procedural Mandate? The Right to Regulate and UNCITRAL Working Group III

September 7, 2023

Joshua Paine

Elizabeth Sheargold

This post addresses Draft Provision 12, on ‘Right to Regulate’, in the recent ‘Draft Provisions on Procedural and Cross-Cutting Issues’ that were published by the UNCITRAL Secretariat in late July and will be discussed at UNCITRAL Working Group III’s next session in October 2023 (A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.229 [11]). The Draft Provisions have been ‘prepared for inclusion in existing and future’ International Investment Agreements (IIAs) (A/CN.9/WG.III/WP.231, [3]). While Draft Provision 12(1) contains a very standard right to regulate clause, similar to those found in many newer IIAs, the next two paragraphs are far more novel. These provide: When assessing the alleged breach by a Contracting Party of its obligation under the Agreement [the relevant IIA], the Tribunal shall give a high level of deference that international law accords to Contracting Parties with regard to the development and implementation of domestic policies, the right to regulate in the public interest and the right to adopt, maintain and enforce measures sensitive to the protection of public health, public safety or the environment,…

Dual Nationals in Investment Treaty Arbitration: An Emerging Field of Inconsistent Decisions

July 27, 2023

Javier García Olmedo

Introduction Nationality is a crucial marker for protection in international investment law. Only investors that qualify as nationals of a contracting party can access investment treaties. Most investment treaties, however, are premised on broad provisions defining eligible nationals. With respect to individuals, these instruments typically define protected investors as physical persons who hold the nationality…

Sovereign White Knights: Defensive State-Capitalism as a Gate Keeper of (EU) Economic Security?

July 18, 2023

Victor Crochet

Weihuan Zhou

Geopolitical considerations have been creeping into corporate and international economic laws. Faced with rapidly increasing inbound foreign direct investment by corporations from competing economies, many countries have either strengthened existing, or developed new, investment screening mechanisms. These mechanisms enable host country governments to decide whether to admit foreign investment, and if so, whether conditions should be…

The G7’s Fear of Economic Coercion through Weaponised Interdependence – Geopolitical Competition Cloaked in International Law?

June 22, 2023

Anh Nguyen

President Zelensky’s attendance of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima (19 – 21 May 2023) was not the only significant moment of the event. Pundits have zeroed on something else, describing the summit as “a launch party for one phrase in particular: economic coercion” – China’s economic coercion. A launch party it was indeed. The…

Critical insecurities? The European Union’s trade and investment strategy for a stable supply of minerals for the green transition

February 23, 2023

Victor Crochet

Weihuan Zhou

Clashing over critical minerals The green transition is creating an exponential need for critical raw materials (“CRMs”), such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, as these are necessary for environmentally-friendly technologies, from wind turbines to electrical vehicles. The European Union (“EU”) is in desperate need of such minerals due to limited reserves at home and long-lasting…

Page 1 of 46
Last

Popular in International Economic Law

Europe’s Debt to Greece

August 24, 2015

Margot Salomon

The past five years have shown a categorical disregard for the human rights of the people of Greece by international creditors. We have witnessed a disregard by states, including notably eurozone states, as well as by European institutions and the IMF, of their human rights obligations when crafting conditionalities. There is a long list of deplorable developments that…

Beyond “Good Neighborliness” in the ICJ 1 October 2018 Judgment in Bolivia v. Chile: Do Human Rights and Sustainable Development Obligate Creating Negotiated Access for Landlocked Bolivia to the Pacific Ocean?

October 4, 2018

Diane Desierto

On 1 October 2018, the International Court of Justice issued its Judgment on the Merits in Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile), finding, by 12 votes to 3, that Chile "did not undertake a legal obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean" for Bolivia and rejecting all other submissions of Bolivia. While…

The Right to Regulate for Public Morals Upheld (Somewhat): The WTO Panel Report in EC-Seal Products

January 27, 2014

Diane Desierto

There have been few interpretations of Article XX(a) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) - the specific exception that justifies what would ordinarily be a State's GATT-inconsistent measure, unless such measure is deemed "necessary to protect public morals". As with any of the ten enumerated exceptions under Article XX of GATT 1994, a State invoking GATT…

Ecuador v. United States Inter-State Arbitration under a BIT: How to Interpret the Word “Interpretation”?

August 31, 2012

Dapo Akande

There is an inter-State arbitration pending between Ecuador and the United States under the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between those two countries (Treaty between United States of America and the Republic of Ecuador Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment, 27 August 1993). The Ecuador v. US case , which was initiated in June 2011, is, as far as…