Master's Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: B+, University of Auckland, course: International Arbitration, language: English, abstract: Since 1959, the year in which the first Bilateral Investment Treaty (hereinafter BIT) was concluded, the number of BITs has increased to roundly 2500. The rapid growth of that number spells out the outstanding role BITs nowadays play in the global investment protection regime. Typically the host country has not only entered into a BIT with one country but a number of other countries as well. Due to numerous reasons the BITs concluded by the host country often differ in their wording, scope and the guaranteed range of rights. In order to prevent a discrimination and to ensure a balanced competition in the country’s market with equal opportunities for all market players almost all BITs provide for a so-called Most-Favoured-Nation clause (hereinafter MFN clause). Subject to certain limits such a MFN clause, in principle, operates as follows: as soon as the host state accords a more favourable treatment to a third party in another BIT (third party treaty) the party of the basic treaty can rely on the MFN clause to demand the same treatment. Hence, the most favourable treatment agreed upon with one state automatically sets up the standard for the treatment of any other country given that its BIT contains a MFN clause. Although it might be problematic as to what extent a basic treaty can be altered by the operation of MFN clauses, it is commonly accepted that they principally can allow for the incorporation of more favourable substantial rights. However, most BITs do not only address substantial matters but provide for dispute settlement procedures as well. It was the year 2000 when an arbitration tribunal in fact dealt with such a claim for the first time in detail. The pendent dispute gave rise to a question that surprisingly has scraped a shadowy existence before: Are MFN clauses also able to import procedural rights from one BIT to another? Although the competent tribunal in the now-famous Maffezini decision argued in favour of an application with respect to procedural rights the issue today is still alien from being clarified, since other tribunals subsequently have expressly resisted following the Maffezini decision. The divergent decisions caused great legal uncertainty which is not least due to the textual breadth of the MFN clauses the different tribunals had to deal with. The following essay seeks to “bring light into this legal darkness”.

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) provide investors in natural resource projects with stability. Specifically, dispute settlement provisions, a feature of most modern BITs, allow investors to make claims against the host state for alleged breaches of the BIT However, some such provisions establish limits or preconditions with respect to the ability of investors to access international arbitration. Recently, investors have invoked the most-favoured-nation (MFN) clauses of BITs in an attempt to avoid those limits or preconditions. This issue has proven to be very contentious and arbitral tribunals have come to different conclusions with some tribunals willing to extend MFN protection to an investor's procedural rights and others refusing to do so. This article examines the diverging lines of arbitral jurisprudence on this issue and highlights the opposing positions of a doctrinal divide regarding the scope and applicability of MFN protection.

The open access publication of this book has been published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In The Interpretation and Application of the Most-Favored-Nation Clause in Investment Arbitration, Dr. Anqi Wang provides suggestions for MFN drafting in future international investment agreements (IIAs), as well as for MFN application by investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) tribunals in case of ambiguity. Dr. Wang conducts a systemic review of MFN clause in history and maps all the relevant ISDS cases. She argues that ISDS tribunals should interpret the MFN clause according to the treaty text on a case-by-case basis, and that tribunals should also consider state consent as the foundation for the jurisdiction of international adjudication, current IIA reform, and essential treaty interpretive principles.

Das Meistbegünstigungsprinzip (engl. "Most favoured nation", MFN) ist ein integraler Bestandteil praktisch aller heutigen Investitionssysteme. MFN-Klauseln in internationalen Investitionsabkommen signalisieren Anlegern staatlichen Schutz vor Diskriminierung. Ihre Durchsetzung in der Praxis ist nicht immer unproblematisch. Das Buch stellt die Funktionsweisen der Meistbegünstigung als Standard des internationalen Investitionsrechts umfassend dar. Ausgehend der Entwicklung des Konzepts im internationalen Recht, bietet die Autorin einen Überblick über die bestehenden staatlichen Praktiken bei der Aushandlung der MFN-Klauseln in bilateralen und internationalen Investitionsverträgen. Schließlich analysiert die Arbeit MFN-Klauseln auf ihr Potenzial hin, Diskriminierung zu verhindern und den "Import" von materiellen Schutzrechten in internationalen staatlichen Schiedsverfahren für Investoren zu ermöglichen.

The most-favoured-nation treatment (MFN) standard is a core element of international investment agreements. It means that a host country treats investors from one foreign country no less favourably than investors from any other foreign country. This paper examines the fields in which there have been departures from MFN, and the potential interactive effects of the MFN standard with other investment-related issues, e.g. host country operational measures, the principle of national treatment and trade policy measures.

The publication contains an explanation of Most Favored Nation (MFN) treatment and some of the key issues that arise in its negotiation, particularly the scope and application of MFN treatment to the liberalization and protection of foreign investors in recent treaty practice. The paper provides policy options as regards the traditional application of MFN treatment and identifies reactions by States to the unexpected broad use of MFN treatment, and provides several drafting options, such as specifying or narrowing down the scope of application of MFN treatment to certain types of activities, clarifying the nature of "treatment" under the IIA, clarifying the comparison that an arbitral tribunal needs to undertake as well as a qualification of the comparison "in like circumstances" or excluding its use in investor-State cases.

This book comprehensively examines various issues regarding the scope of Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) Clauses in International Investment Agreements (IIAs), and addresses the reform, interpretation, and enforcement of IIAs with a specific focus on the MFN clause. The book begins with a study of the history and evolution of the MFN. It then presents a substantive analysis focusing on the drafting style and how it affects the scope of the MFN; rules of interpretation and arbitral case law on the scope of the MFN, procedural prerequisites to arbitration and jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals, and the implications of adopting an expansive approach to the MFN clause. The book’s argument centres on the need for arbitral tribunals to interpret the MFN in a manner that reflects the expressed intent of the parties. This requires taking into consideration the text of the MFN, its purpose, and the overall context of the IIA, rather than relying on values and assumptions that have nothing to do with the original intent of the parties. In making this argument, the book draws on Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and other interpretative rules. What sets the book apart is its comprehensive coverage of issues concerning the interpretation and application of the MFN in IIAs. At the same time, it addresses issues in connection with an expansive interpretation of MFN clauses, as well as concerns regarding the legitimacy crisis in investor-state arbitration. Accordingly, it contributes to future Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) reform, while also offering a wealth of theoretical and practical insights for future treaty drafters, arbitrators, and policymakers.

This book outlines the protection standards typically contained in international investment agreements as they are actually applied and interpreted by investment tribunals. It thus provides a basis for analysis, criticism, and stocktaking of the existing system of investment arbitration. It covers all main protection standards, such as expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, the non-discrimination standards of national treatment and MFN, the prohibition of unreasonable and discriminatory measures, umbrella clauses and transfer guarantees. These standards are covered in separate chapters providing an overview of textual variations, explaining the origin of the standards and analysing the main conceptual issues as developed by investment tribunals. Relevant cases with quotations that illustrate how tribunals have relied upon the standards are presented in depth. An extensive bibliography guides the reader to more specific aspects of each investment standard permitting the book's use as a commentary of the main investment protection standards.

The rapid growth in investment treaties has led to a burgeoning number of international arbitration decisions that have applied and interpreted treaty provisions in disputes between investors and states concerning their respective rights. This flurry of treaties and arbitral decisions has seen the creation of a new branch of international law- the law of investment claims. In this revised edition, Jeswald Salacuse examines the law of international investment treaties, specifically in relation to its origins, structure, content, and effect, as well as their impact on international investors and investments, and the governments that are parties to them. Investment treaty law is a rapidly evolving field and since publication of the first edition, the law of international investment treaties has both experienced considerable growth and generated extensive controversy. 2011 saw the highest number of new treaty-based arbitration filed under international investment agreements to date, and in July 2014, the Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) v The Russian Federation culminated with awards of over US$50 billion; a historic record for any arbitration. Controversy in this field has primarily revolved around the investor-state dispute settlement process, which as thus far involved at least 98 states as respondents. Salacuse captures these developments in this updated edition, examining not only the significant growth in treaties, but the trends that have followed, and their effect on the content and evolution of the law of investment treaties. Specific topics include conditions for the entry of foreign investment and general standards of treatment of foreign investments; monetary transfers; operational conditions; protection against expropriation; dispossession and compensation for losses; dispute settlement, including negotiation, arbitration, and conciliation; and judicial proceedings.

The Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy is a one-stop reference source. This Handbook covers the main conceptual questions in a logical, scholarly yet easy to comprehend manner. It is based on a truly global vision insisting particularly on Global South related issues and developments. In this respect, the Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy provides an excellent modern treatment of international investment law which is one of the fastest growing areas of international economic law. Professor Julien Chaisse, Professor Leïla Choukroune, and Professor Sufian Jusoh are the editors-in-chief of the Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy, a 1,500-page reference book, which is anticipated becoming one of the most influenced reference books in the international economic law areas. This Handbook is a highly comprehensive set of four volumes of original materials designed to cover all facets of international investment law and policy. The chapters, written by world-leading experts, explore key ideas and debates in relation to: international investment substantive law (Volume I), Investor-state dispute settlement (Volume II); interaction between international investment law and other fields of international law (Volume III); and, the new trends and challenges for international investment law (Volume IV). The Handbook will feature more than 80 contributions from leading experts (academics, lawyers, government officials), including Vivienne Bath, M. Sornarajah, Mélida Hodgson, Rahul Donde, Roberto Echandi, Andrew Mitchell, Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, Christina L. Beharry, Krista Nadakavukaren Schefer, Leon Trakman, Prabhash Ranjan, Emmanuel Jacomy, Mariel Dimsey, Stavros Brekoulakis, Romesh Weeramantry, Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, David Collins, Damilola S. Olawuyi, Katia Fach Gomez, Jaemin Lee, Alejandro Carballo-Leyda, Patrick W. Pearsall, Mark Feldman, Surya Deva, Luke Nottage, Rafael Leal-Arcas, James Nedumpara, Rodrigo Polanco, etc. This Handbook will be an essential reference tool for students and scholars of international economic law. Policy makers and researchers alike will find the Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy useful for years to come.