"Financial Sanctions" of Investors' Abusive Arbitration Behavior

by Rym Ben Khelifa, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Tunis, University Tunis

Introduction

(Addendum 08/10/2018) The contemporary international investment regime is generating an increasing unease. This unease was particularly felt in the context of the negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the world's largest economies, the United States and the European Union, as anti-investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) groups are calling for the dismantling of the international investment arbitration system.

Despite the important benefits offered by international investment, an undeniable backlash against investment arbitration and the overall international investment regime has made its way through a growing number of arbitral awards and decisions as disputes create public problems while enhancing private rights. The main critics assert that the system, perceived as biased, suffers from an alleged lack of transparency, predictability and accountability. In addition, practice has progressively shown that investors' activities can "bear the potential to negatively affect the human rights of the people living under the host State's jurisdiction " and the host State's interests in general.

Footnotes omitted from this introduction.

You can download the paper here "Financial Sanctions" of Investors' Abusive Arbitration Behavior. Part of the TDM 4 (2018) - Time and Cost Issues in International Arbitration Special Issue.