international investment law (4495)

(mars 2022)

Responsable du cours :M. Aikaterini TITI

This course will offer an introduction to the fundamental themes and issues of international investment law. International investment is one of the key drivers of economic development.  It provides access to capital and facilitates technology and know-how transfers, it creates jobs, and it contributes to the development of infrastructure and to poverty reduction. Once established abroad international investment can face enormous risks. International investment law studies the legal framework that addresses these risks. The course will cover both substantive and procedural investment standards. It will first examine the sources of international investment law, and especially international investment agreements, including megaregionals such as CETA and TPP. It will explore the types of international investment, with a focus on foreign direct investment (FDI). It will analyse the notions of ‘investment’ and ‘investor’ protected under international investment agreements and the ICSID Convention. It will address investment promotion mechanisms, and the admission and establishment of foreign investments. It will then consider substantive investment protections, including provisions on expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, national and most-favoured-nation treatment, and free capital transfers, as well as exceptions and limitations to these standards. It will analyse international investment law’s dispute settlement methods, and notably investor-state arbitration. It will explore the arbitration process, including jurisdiction and admissibility, the selection of arbitrators, their role, powers and ethical requirements. The course will further examine the EU’s ongoing endeavours to reform investor-state dispute settlement by creating an international investment court. The course will also cover the economic theories and the literature on FDI, and the political economy of investment protectionism and liberalisation (market access under the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements), thus offering complementary legal and economic perspectives.