Rapid response event: Europe’s investment court proposal

Speakers:
Colin Brown, European Commission, DG Trade
N. Jansen Calamita, Investment Treaty Forum
Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof, London Court of International Arbitration
Martins Paparinskis, University College London
Audley Sheppard, Clifford Chance

On 16 September, the European Commission published a proposal for a new Investment Court System for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and other EU trade and investment negotiations. Some elements of the proposal build upon best practices and recent developments in international investment law, but the Commission clearly intends to move beyond merely cosmetic changes to existing practice. As Commissioner Malmström put it, ‘there is a fundamental and widespread lack of trust by the public in the fairness and impartiality of the old ISDS model’. One significant change would involve setting up a public Investment Court System composed of a first instance Tribunal and an Appeal Tribunal; another relates to adjudicators, who would publicly appointed judges with high qualifications, comparable to those required for the members of permanent international courts such as the International Court of Justice and the WTO Appellate Body.

This rapid response seminar will discuss the likely impact of the Commission’s proposal on investor-State dispute settlement, considered from the perspectives of the Commission itself, current practice of investor-State arbitration, WTO law, and general international law of dispute settlement.

Book your place at the BICCL Website (available from Monday 12 October)