Enforcing Global Law: International arbitration and informal regulatory instruments

This paper starts from the assumption that international arbitration easily fits in with a pluralist conception of global law. Globalization has created new informal instruments of regulation, and arbitration is an efficient tool for enforcing them. First, the paper presents a brief analysis of the most noteworthy international initiatives in the area of transnational legal indicators. It will become clear how these indirect regulatory instruments are contributing to the creation of a new regulatory profile in the area of arbitration. Second, a number of examples will show that both commercial and investment arbitration are receptive to the multiple appearances of legal pluralism in the arbitration arena. Arbitral awards are turning ever more frequently to instruments created and managed by the private sector – i.e., codes of conduct, economic indexes, economic indicators, financial premiums, valuation methods, audits – to resolve the complex disputes arising from international business. Third, sectorial arbitrations are striking examples of how private sector initiatives implement sophisticated private conflict resolution mechanisms. The paper will present a particularly detailed analysis of the international sports sector, in which an interesting symbiosis can be discerned: on the one hand this non-state sector has unilaterally created a large number of new instruments of global regulation – i.e., sports constitutions, charters, statutes, codes – that are resorting to arbitration to increase their independence from the public sector. On the other hand, sports arbitration – essentially, the CAS – is meanwhile significantly contributing to the sector’s maturity by actively participating in the consolidation of lex sportiva by means of its awards. Finally, the paper concludes with some reflections and ideas for further discussion

Eu-china negotiations on investor state dispute settlement within the cai framework: are we on the right track?

This paper begins by presenting some of the main assessments of this controversial EU-China “agreement in principle”, and also weighs up the text’s chances of coming into force. The fact that, according to scholars, the bidirectional FDI flows between the EU and the PRC are still underdeveloped does not seem to be a good enough reason for all EU institutions to endorse its CAI approval on a political level. Section III reflects on the possible reasons why the Comprehensive Agreement, despite its name, did not cover an issue as essential as ISDS from the outset, instead relegating it to later negotiations between the two parties. Seven very diverse hypotheses are addressed by this paper on the above referred absence (ranging from a mere question of time to problematic unilateral strategies, and including bilateral decisions reached on the basis of various possible grounds). Section IV reflects on the possible content of the EU-China Agreement on Investment Dispute Settlement. A very wide range of possibilities opens up again at this point (a permanent standing two-tier mechanism with full-time adjudicators; a multilateral permanent appellate mechanism; a Sino-European mechanism for settling investment disputes; an Asia-centred dispute settlement mechanism linked to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; existing Chinese-led arbitration mechanisms, and the enhancement of other ADR mechanisms). Section V deals with the fact that the BITs that China has signed with almost all EU countries in recent decades are applicable to the claims that Chinese and EU investors could raise before the entry into force of the EU-China IDS Agreement. This section also explains the negative consequences of this supposedly transitory situation and makes a case for completing the IDS negotiations promptly and effectively

La Protección Del Medio Ambiente Y El Comercio Internacional: ¿Hay Que "Pensar En Verde" El Arbitraje De Inversiones?

This paper studies several relevant cases in the area of investment arbitration. The author stresses how the environmental protection is a very relevant issue in these ICSID´s decisions

La Protección Del Medio Ambiente Y El Comercio Internacional: ¿Hay Que "Pensar En Verde" El Arbitraje De Inversiones?

This paper studies several relevant cases in the area of investment arbitration. The author stresses how the environmental protection is a very relevant issue in these ICSID´s decisions

Facilitating Access to Investor-State Dispute Settlement for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Tracing the Path Forward”

The costs of accessing investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) are notoriously high. International investment treaties and investment dispute settlement in particular have been primarily designed with large investors in mind – those with the means to access an international tribunal –, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual or vulnerable investors can face significant barriers to accessing ISDS. This article is the first in legal scholarship to identify and evaluate the diverse opportunities that exist for the establishment and operation of mechanisms allowing SMEs better and easier access to ISDS. Drawing on the wealth of comparative experience from the functioning of existing dispute settlement assistance mechanisms in international courts and tribunals, the article argues that legal assistance is a more efficient and cost-effective tool than financial assistance and presents concrete proposals for the funding and operation of such a mechanism for SMEs. Finally, the article examines the political cost involved in facilitating SMEs’ access to ISDS, in light of the fact that some states have been increasingly wary of ISDS, but it weighs this challenge against the imperative of ensuring effective access to justic

International Investment Law and ISDS: Mapping Contemporary Latin America

In recent years, the negotiation and conclusion of international investment agreements (IIAs) in Latin America has gone hand-in-hand with a rethinking of investment standards and the elaboration of new IIA models. This is evident, among others, in Brazil’s cooperation and facilitation investment agreements (CFIAs), the continuing negotiations on the creation of a regional dispute settlement centre under the aegis of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), some recently-released investment policy documents and amendments to national arbitration laws for disputes involving the State. The article highlights such developments emphasising the broad spectrum of local approaches that vary from convergence to divergence in order to interpret Latin American countries’ position in the existing investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) system and reveal the role that the sub-continent can play in the future design of ISDS

Unión Europea e Inversiones Internacionales: El Futuro De Los Mecanismos De Resolución De Controversias Inversor-Estado

Este articulo reflexiona sobre el futuro del sistema de solución de controversias inversor-estado, a la luz de las últimas novedades generadas en la materia en el contexto de la Unión Europea. This papers reflects on the future of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), in the light of the latest EU developments on the issue

El aprendizaje a través de la simulación en el moot practice: una estrategia docente para la mejora de la formación jurídica universitaria en el marco del EEES

This article examines the relevance of the phenomenon on of moot competitions and moot practice in legal education and it is intended to reflect on the degree of implementation of this practice in Spanish law schools and the applicability in the general legal education to Spanish students. After explaining the origin of the word moot terminology and explain the different types of kangaroo courts that are covered under this generic nomenclature currently, presents the historical evolution of moot practice in common law countries and also shows what are the most famous contemporary moot competitions internationally. For Spain, are also described the few moot activities that have been implemented in the country and outlines what are the elements that characterize the moot currently practice in Spain. Regarding moot methodology, this article explains the most important phases of these legal drills and activities to develop the students in each. This leads to systematically present, as a result, the benefits of the practice moot for all stakeholders-students, faculty, academic institutions, society, and the shortcomings that today is attributed to this educational activity. In terms of the findings and possible prospective actions, this work proposes to give more importance to moot curricular practice in Spain, suggesting a number of measures to be taken from different areas for this practice matures in our university and thus assists in the implementation of the EHEA in Spanish universities.Este artículo examina la relevancia del fenómeno del moot practice –simulación jurídica- en la formación jurídica universitaria y tiene por objetivo reflexionar sobre el grado de implantación de esta práctica en las Facultades de Derecho españolas y sobre la adecuación de su generalización en la educación legal de los estudiantes españoles. Tras exponer el origen terminológico del vocablo moot y explicitar las distintas tipologías de tribunales simulados que tienen cabida actualmente bajo esta nomenclatura genérica, se presenta la evolución histórica del moot practice en países de common law y se muestra asimismo cuáles son las competiciones moot contemporáneas más afamadas a nivel internacional. En relación con España, se describen también las –aún escasas- actividades moot que se han implantado en el país y se perfila cuáles son los elementos que caracterizan actualmente al moot practice en nuestro país. Respecto a la metodología del moot, el presente artículo explicita las fases más relevantes de estos simulacros jurídicos y las actividades que han de desarrollar los estudiantes en cada una de ellas. Esto conduce a presentar de forma sistemática, a modo de resultados, las ventajas del moot practice para todos los agentes implicados –estudiantes, profesorado, instituciones académicas, sociedad así como las carencias que hoy en día se le achacan a dicha actividad formativa. En el ámbito de las conclusiones y las posibles acciones prospectivas, este trabajo propone darle mayor importancia curricular al moot practice en España, sugiriendo una serie de medidas a tomar desde distintos ámbitos para que esta práctica madure en nuestro ámbito universitario y que de esta forma coadyuve en la implantación del EEES en la Universidad española