The compatibility of appellate mechanisms with existing instruments of the investment treaty regime

A special guest lecture

delivered by N. Jansen Calamita (National University of Singapore)

Chaired by Dr Martins Paparinskis (UCL Laws)

About the talk

As investment treaty dispute practice has begun to mature concerns have been raised by some about the legitimacy of the regime and, in particular, about the legitimacy of the process of investor-state arbitration. In a stated attempt to address these concerns, the European Union has concluded treaties with Canada and Vietnam establishing a new ‘investment tribunal system’ entailing a ‘radical’ reworking of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) through the establishment, inter alia, of standing, two-tiered investment tribunals with state-appointed judges, providing for appellate review on issues of law and fact as of right. With the EU’s conclusion of these treaties, appellate mechanisms in ISDS have been presented in concrete terms for the first time. Beyond its bilateral arrangements with Canada and Vietnam, the EU has indicated that it will pursue a treaty to create a multilateral version of its investment tribunal system.

This talk addresses the compatibility of the EU’s new model of ISDS with existing instruments of the investment treaty regime in two respects. First, whether the introduction of an appellate mechanism or, indeed, the more total reworking of ISDS to establish investment tribunals, renders multilateral instruments like the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention inapplicable to the modified process of ISDS. Second, how the integration of any new appellate mechanism with existing international investment treaties can might technically be achieved.

About the speaker

N. Jansen Calamita is Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Investment Law and Policy Programme in the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore (NUS).  He also teaches in the Faculty of Law as Research Associate Professor (CIL). Before coming to NUS in 2016, he was Director of the Investment Treaty Forum and Senior Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in London. He has previously held posts on the law faculties of the University of Oxford and the University of Birmingham.

Professor Calamita’s research is in general public international law, the law and policy of international investment, and international dispute settlement. He has provided expert testimony to the European Commission, the OECD, the Energy Charter Secretariat, the UK Parliament, and a host of other national governments.   He previously served in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the U.S Department of State (International Claims and Investment Disputes Division) and the UNCITRAL Secretariat. He holds a Juris Doctor magna cum laude (Boston) and a Bachelor of Civil Law (Oxford). He is a Consultative Expert to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and a member of the editorial board of the Yearbook of International Law and Policy (Oxford University Press).