We are actively engaged in the academic community. We research and publish on both theoretical and practical aspects of foreign direct investment and public international law.

PUBLICATIONS

Investment Court Judges and the 'Right to an Independent Tribunal': An Assessment of the Qualification and Ethics Rules in EU FTAs in Light of Opinion 1/17

This Article examines an often overlooked aspect of Opinion 1/17 issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU): the ethics and qualifications of the new CETA adjudicators. The subject was raised as an additional concern by Belgium in the context of its request for an opinion from the CJEU. More specifically…

PUBLICATIONS

Experts: Investment Arbitration

This article concerns the guiding principles of the appointment of experts in investment treaty arbitration by disputing parties, as well as tribunals. It scrutinizes the use of expert evidence, its normative and practical importance, and how arbitral tribunals evaluate and interpret expert opinions during arbitral proceedings.

PUBLICATIONS

Permanent Investment Courts: The European Experiment (European Yearbook of International Economic Law)

This special issue of the European Yearbook of International Economic Law focuses on the opportunities and challenges connected with investment courts. The creation of permanent investment courts was first proposed several decades ago, but it has only recently become likely that these proposals will be implemented..

PUBLICATIONS

Transparency and participatory aspects of investor-state dispute settlement in the EU ‘new wave’ trade agreements

This article scrutinizes the investment chapters in the new EU Free Trade Agreements from a transparency perspective. The article examines the claims that the dispute settlement mechanisms in the new treaties are sufficiently participatory and more transparent than their predecessors..

PUBLICATIONS

Can host countries have legitimate expectations?

The concept of “legitimate expectations” was introduced into the legal relations between foreign investors and host country governments to denote that the latter cannot act contrary to certain expectations they have set in the past..

PUBLICATIONS

A Note on Charanne and Construction v Spain: A Return to Cautious Interpretation of Legitimate Expectations?

In its Final Award of 21 January 2016, the Tribunal consisting of Alexis Mourre, Guido Santiago Tawil and Claus von Wobeser dismissed the Claimant investors’ indirect expropriation and fair and equitable treatment (FET) claims under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in Charanne and Construction Investments v Spain (Charanne)..

PUBLICATIONS

In Search of Consistency and Fairness in Investor-State Arbitration: An 'Institutional' Approach to Interpreting the Doctrine of Legitimate Expectations

This paper attempts to explain issues of fairness and inconsistency in investor-state arbitration with the New Institutional Economics (NIE) framework. It argues that the NIE relates to international investment regime in two ways..

PUBLICATIONS

Review of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) Implementation in Selected Areas: Analysis on Issues Related to Competition Under the Energy Charter Treaty

Following the introduction of competition in network energy industries of some Contracting Parties to the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), in addition to investment protection challenges, foreign investors may today face barriers to competition arising out of uncommon norms and standards..

PUBLICATIONS

Taxation of Foreign Investments under International Law: Article 21 of the Energy Charter Treaty in Context

Taxation of foreign investments is a key regulatory exercise in every sovereign State. Inasmuch as it is not designed to effect a dispossession outside the normative constraints and practices of the taxing powers, the right to tax foreign investments is also a legitimate regulatory exercise…