In Contractual Renegotiations and International Investment Arbitration, Aikaterini Florou explores the sensitive issues of renegotiating state contracts and the relationship between those contracts and the overarching international investment treaties. By introducing novel insights from economics, the author deconstructs the contract-treaty interaction, demonstrating that it is not only treaties that impact the underlying contracts, but also that those contracts have an effect on the way the open-textured treaty standards are interpreted. The originality of the argument is combined with an innovative interpretative methodology based on relational contract theory and transaction cost economics. Departing from the traditional emphasis of international lawyers on the text of investment contracts, Florou shows instead that such contracts are first and foremost “economic animals” and the theory of obsolescing bargaining does not paint a full picture of the contract-treaty interaction.

This book is a second, revised edition of the original 1986 publication. Since then, the issue of contract change has increasingly challenged the business community and legal practitioners. The world-wide recession may well have accelerated the need to secure contractual relationships by reasonable flexibility. Successful foreign investment, a relentless challenge, is subject to many unpredictable errors. Of all these variables, however, successful investment is most dependent on the investor-host country relationship, which is the object of the present study. In particular, the pressure by host countries for contract change and its counterpart: the investor's defence of contract stability. The book is essentially a reference handbook for legal practitioners. It analyzes a variety of increasingly important questions concerning international investment agreements that come under pressure for change by one of the contracting parties: either a transnational corporation or a host country government. The seven case studies and the analytical chapters which follow are based on the author's research and the assistance of corporate and government officials, experts from the United Nations and other organizations, and members of academic research institutes.

General international law is part and parcel of investor-state arbitration. This is the case not only regarding treaty law and state responsibility, but also with respect to matters such as state succession, the international minimum standard, and state immunity, all of which feature regularly in investor-state arbitration. Yet, although general international law issues arise in almost every investment case and often require extensive research, no systematic exploration of the relationship between the two exists. This Commentary is the first to fill this gap, providing a comprehensive treatment of the role of general international law in international investment law. It engages in detail with central matters of general international law, including in the practice of investment arbitration tribunals, moving beyond existing works which focus solely on procedural and institutional provisions. The Commentary's forty-six chapters do not focus on a single source or subject. Instead, each concentrates on a specific, relevant article from a particular source of public law - such as the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) or the International Law Commission's Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (2001), among others. The entries combine detailed analysis with an examination of procedural and substantive aspects - such as nationality and unjust enrichment - and respond to the following questions: how have investment tribunals interpreted and applied the specific rule of general international law? To what extent and why does such interpretation and application align with or deviate from the practice by other international courts or tribunals? How could and should investment tribunals interpret and apply rules that have yet to feature in investment arbitration? This unique format means this commentary will serve as a central guide for all relevant case law and scholarship on international investment law.

This book provides an ideal introduction to the fundamentals of international investment law and dispute settlement for students or practitioners. It combines a systematic analytical study of the texts and principles underlying investment law with a jurisprudential analysis of the case law arising in international tribunals.

How do host states and foreign investors balance the need for legal stability and regulatory flexibility in the complex world of international investment, against the backdrop of an ever-evolving global economy? This book uncovers unique insights into the delicate balance between legal stability and flexibility. Through in-depth analysis and real-world case studies, Dr. Abdallah Ali unveils the secrets behind stabilization and renegotiation clauses, demystifying their impact on investors, governments, and global trade. With rare access to historical data and illuminating examples, this work is an invaluable resource for legal practitioners, policymakers, and investors navigating the complexities of international investment terrain.

"Presents the results of a questionnaire-based survey circulated to the main players in the petroleum sector, revealing actual existing contractual risk management techniques and showing a true picture of the political risk situation in the petroleum sector"--P. [4] of cover.

Zusammenfassung: The book brings to light how Latin American states have traditionally stood before the field of International Investment Law and Arbitration. It delves into their posture of resistance to critically examine how their perspective has gradually changed and how they have adapted and molded their investment agreements so as not to leave their position as players in the field of International Investment Law. Many Latin American states have appeared as defendants before international investment tribunals and some of these, like Venezuela, Bolivia or Ecuador, have denounced their international investment agreements. Deeming the law field as imbalanced, they have looked for alternatives to continue providing legal protection to foreign investors while protecting their right to regulate in the name of public interest. Some interesting investment agreements models, sometimes of a different ilk, have consequently flourished and have arrested the attention of those studying or working with international investment law. The main objective of this book is to critically discuss how Latin American states have accepted, resisted, or adapted themselves to international investment law and arbitration. Accordingly, the general connection between these states and international investment law are explained in an introduction which examines the general trends as per which Latin American states have offered a legal protection to foreign investments. The first part enters the merits of where international investment law and arbitration stand in some Latin American states whereby the experience of Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Uruguay are discussed. The following parts explain the trends in international investment law and arbitration in Latin America. These trends are namely related to dispute settlement and governance, to the connection between investment law and human rights and finally to regionalization. In these parts, the experience of states like Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico are perused

An examination of the core principles, landmark disputes, and modern developments in IEL reflecting a global approach.

International investments are governed by three different legal frameworks: 1) national laws of both the host country and the investor's home country; 2) contracts, whether between the investor and the host country or among investors and their associates; and 3) international law, consisting of applicable treaties, customs, and general principles of law. Together, these three frameworks profoundly influence the organization, operation, and protection of foreign investments. Investors, government officials, and their legal counsel must therefore understand the complex interaction among these frameworks and how best to employ them to advance their interests. This book examines the content of each of these three legal frameworks for international investment and explores how they influence the foreign investment process and the nature of investment transactions, projects, and enterprises. The book is divided into five parts. Part I, after explaining the contemporary nature and significance of international investment, examines the theoretical and practical links between law and the investment process. Part II explores the nature of national laws regulating foreign investment. Part III considers of the various contractual frameworks for international investments, looking at their negotiation, content, and stability. Part IV sets out the international legal framework governing foreign investment, focusing on the content and nature of investment treaties and on general principles. Finally, Part V discusses how the three legal frameworks interact with each other. By comprehensively examining each of the applicable legal frameworks, this book provides a vital overview of the laws, rules, and regulations governing foreign investment for lawyers, scholars, students, and government officials.

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) – as the ‘treaty on treaties’ – has achieved a rich and nuanced track record of use in international law. It has now been over fifty years since the VCLT was opened for signature in 1969, and over forty years since it entered into force in 1980. As of 2022, the VCLT has been ratified by 116 States and signed by 45 others, with some non-ratifying States also recognising parts as reflective of customary international law. In the intervening decades, the VCLT has had a profound influence on the interpretation, application and development of international investment law, including in the context of investment treaty arbitration. This book presents the first consolidated analysis of how the VCLT has informed the practice of international investment law and the resolution of investor-State disputes, and the role that the VCLT may play in shaping the future of this field. The diverse contributors to this book are scholars and practitioners from around the world, who offer a variety of perspectives on the nexus between the VCLT, international investment law and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS). Each chapter demonstrates how approaches to key issues of treaty law in investment treaty arbitration diverge or converge from the VCLT and approaches of other international courts, as well as the lessons that investment treaty arbitration could derive – or even offer – for the interpretation and application of the VCLT rules in other settings. Their insights and analyses consider aspects such as the role of the VCLT for: interpretation of more specific approaches to treaty law drafted by treaty negotiators; treaty application in circumstances of contested State territory or succession challenges; temporal challenges arising in treaty interpretation; the status of bilateral investment treaties between European Union Member States and related termination endeavours; questions concerning the validity, termination and amendment of investment treaties, including as part of ongoing ISDS reform processes; current multilateral reform proposals, including the possibility of an appellate mechanism or a multilateral investment court; grappling with the challenge of fragmentation in international investment law, including the role of prior decisions in treaty interpretation, the challenges introduced by treaty conflict and the multitude of approaches that may be taken by national courts when implementing treaties like the New York Convention; and treaty interpretation and drafting as aided by emerging technologies, such as data analytics, machine learning, smart contracts and blockchain. The book’s appendix provides a highly valuable tabular summary of ISDS arbitral practice relating to the VCLT, collating key references from over 350 different procedural orders, decisions and awards. By revisiting the role that the VCLT has played in the development of this field of law, this invaluable book unlocks insights into how the VCLT might be used to support its ongoing development and the resolution of the next generation of investor-State disputes. This book is essential reading for a variety of stakeholders, including arbitrators, counsel, scholars and government officials, who will benefit from its in-depth and practical analysis of the VCLT’s relevance to and impact on investment law and investor-State arbitration and its role in shaping where this field of public international law might be headed in the decades to come.