Public lecture by Dr. Martins Paparinskis, Junior Research Fellow, Merton College, University of Oxford; Specialist counsel at Sorainen
"Invocation of Responsibility and the Legal Nature of Investment Treaty Arbitration: Historical Lessons and Contemporary Relevance"
The developments of the recent decades in investment treaty arbitration have raised a number of questions of both practical importance for particular proceedings and theoretical interest for international law in general. The seemingly basic question about the legal nature of investment treaty arbitration is perhaps one of the most important: essentially, should one consider investor-State arbitration to be an exercise of invocation of State responsibility, and (if the answer is positive) does the investor act as a beneficiary of the obligation or as an agent of its home State? The presentation will explore both the historical perspective and the contemporary relevance of the legal classification of the nature of investment treaty arbitration. In particular, the possible lessons of other legal regimes permitting individual access will be considered, and the practical implications regarding waiver of claims by investors, interpretation of investment treaties, settlement of claims by home State and the application of countermeasures by host States will be sketched.
More information: "Jurista Vārds", 2011, 13. septembris