Improving international investment agreements

Armand L. C. De Mestral, Céline Lévesque

"In recent years, the world has witnessed the coming of age of international investment law. The numbers are telling with over 2600 bilateral investment treaties, over 462 free trade, customs unions and other economic partnership agreements notified to the WTO, with 276 being in force, an increasing number of which include investment chapters, and over 350 known investor-State treaty-based arbitrations. This phenomenon has not left many untouched as over 175 States have signed international investment agreements (IIAs) and at least 81 governments have faced investment treaty arbitrations. The regime, however, has not been without criticisms. The main criticisms being: that IIAs do not fulfil their great bargain the promotion of investment, while they effectively protect powerful economic interests; that IIAs protect investor's rights over the public interest of the host country; that...