Interaction and Conflict of Treaties in Investment Arbitration

International Arbitration Law Library Volume 32

This new book is the first to focus on the interaction between international investment law and other systems of international law.

Looking at the challenges in this area from the perspective of treaty conflicts, the author examines and comments on cases where obligations in two treaties can conflict with one another, such as:

• the rights of foreign investors under investment treaties;
• disputes between the host States trying to protect the health and safety of their citizens versus the treaty rights of foreign companies;
• treaty conflicts that can arise between international, human rights, environmental and EU law.

He determines the hierarchy between these conflicting treaty norms, and establishes a legitimacy threshold for the investor-State arbitral system.

Covering four main areas, the work offers you practical guidance and commentary on the evolution of investment treaties, the law of treaty conflicts, treaty conflicts in investor-state arbitration, and investment treaty conflicts and the European Union.

It covers every issue that you might expect to find in this contentious area, including:

• flexibility in the amount of compensation payable to foreign investors;
• implications of including non-investment provisions in investment treaties;
• effectiveness of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties rules on treaty interpretation;
• legal bases for the interaction of investment and non-investment treaties;
• the ECJ’s views on EC Treaty/TFEU investment treaty conflicts.

You’ll find a wealth of interpretive methodologies, remedial mechanisms, and legally and practically plausible examples that investor-State tribunals can use in their adjudicative techniques. The author argues that the solution to the legitimacy crisis of the investor-State arbitral system lies in the taking up and resolution of the issue of treaty conflicts by the tribunals themselves.

How this book will help you:

• Studies in detail the conflicts between investment treaties and other treaty obligations, keeping you aware of the problems that may arise
• Shows how the relations between international investment law, human rights law, environmental law and EU law are often intertwined, guiding you towards the best solution
• Analyses in depth the conflicting norms of public policy and investors’ rights, so you can make decisions based on the most authoritative information
• Brings value-oriented reasoning to the legitimacy crisis of the investor-State arbitral system

Provides interpretive methodologies, remedial mechanisms, and legally and practically plausible paradigms that investor-State tribunals can use in their adjudicative techniques

Who should read this book?

It will be essential reading for investment arbitrators, cross-border investors, States who are parties to investment treaties, foreign investment policy makers, and others working in arbitration, human rights, environmental law, and international trade.