In 2016 and 2017, states continued their engagement with international investment law. A small minority of states displayed scepticism or tried to disengage themselves from their investment law obligations. This chapter addresses select institutional developments in international investment law...

Arbitration has been the most sought after option not merely in domesticarbitration, but also that of international arbitration. Moreover, with theboom of international trade, more disputes have arisen, with most partiesopting for arbitration for dispute resolution. There is a growing reference...

This article begins by presenting some recent statistical data on rule of law, investment, and corruption in Venezuela. It focuses afterwards on analysing the 2014 Venezuelan Anti-Corruption Law, and it develops various arguments that may lead to question this Law ́s real objectives from an...

Economic experts indicate that the investment prospects in Latin America and the Caribbean are not positive. They attribute the general negative trend in Latin America to a set of factors such as the continued economic recession, falling commodity prices, higher currency volatility, and...

This article begins by presenting some recent statistical data on rule of law, investment, and corruption in Venezuela. It focuses afterwards on analysing the 2014 Venezuelan Anti-Corruption Law, and it develops various arguments that may lead to question this Law´s real objectives from an...

Since the Argentine financial crisis of 2001-2002, bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) have increasingly come under the spotlight as a means by which foreign investors can enforce their rights against the host State of their investment. These rights come in the form of various substantive...

Many similarities and occasional differences are evident in New Zealand (as explained in Part 2) and Australia (Part 3) concerning their laws screening foreign direct investment (FDI) and current approaches towards investment treaties, including the now politically sensitive issue of...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement was signed in February 2016 by 12 Asia-Pacific economies that already account for 40% of world GDP, including the United States, Japan and Australia. If ratified, economists model significant economic growth prospects, especially for smaller and/or...

This paper outlines the historical evolution of Australia's foreign direct investment (FDI) regulation generally, under national law and more recently bilateral investment treaties (BITs) or investment chapters of free trade agreements (FTAs). This sets the stage for closer analysis of the...

As in some developing countries and more recently some developed countries worldwide and in the Asian region, Australia has faced significant internal opposition and public debate especially over treaty-based investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). As outlined in Part II(1), concerns have...