In the context of harmonisation of arbitration law and practice worldwide, to what extent do local legal traditions still infuence local arbitration practices, especially at a time when non-Western countries are playing an increasingly important role in international commercial and financial...

Investment has become increasingly important in shaping the economic landscape in Asia. In recent years, there has been a burgeoning number of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and investment chapters incorporated into bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) in China. The rapid...

Generally speaking, each individual jurisdiction has adopted its own approach concerning the rules on the determination of the governing law applicable in proceedings in international matters. In the international practice, arbitral panels usually distinguish four relatively autonomous areas...

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...

International investment law is undergoing a time of reflection, review and revision. Increasing dissatisfaction with the functioning of the current system that governs the protection of international investment and the wish to ensure that investment is channelled towards sustainable development...

Since the inception of the international investment law system, investment promotion and protection have been the raison d’être of investment treaties and states have confined their policy space in order to attract foreign investment and protect their investors abroad. Languishing in relative...

In some countries an IP owner’s attempts to defend or enforce its IP rights in a conventional way may face difficulties, particularly if the country’s judiciary is not able to effectively render justice since it lacks the necessary resources, if the courts are subject to interventions by the...

The ongoing reform of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) underlines the pertinence of an old question that has received various and conflicting answers: is investment arbitration a public or a private method of dispute settlement? A key criticism levelled at investment treaty arbitration...