New Database on International Investment Arbitration

Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Gus Van Harten and his team have launched a website and database on “International Investment Arbitration and Public Policy.” At its heart, IIAPP offers a database of summaries of some 150 cases brought by investors against states under treaties channelling disputes into less costly arbitration. Examples most familiar to Canadians will be those investor-state arbitrations carried out under NAFTA’s Chapter 11. Investor treaties touch upon a great many policy areas critical to a state’s functioning, areas including agricultural, environmental, human rights and public health policies.

Along with the database come a series of informative pages that can function as an introduction to this area of conflict and dispute resolution:

• Cases and Regulatory Impacts offers an overview of who has been sued, which nationals have done the suing, and what the affected areas of policy are (with links to relevant cases);
• Treaties touches on the more important treaties that give rise to investor-state disputes and links to an analytical report [PDF] of known cases under these;
• Arbitrators outlines the role and powers of the arbitrators who resolve these disputes; here IIAPP voices some concerns about the system that does not incorporate the safeguards we enjoy in our domestic courts;
• Responses and Alternatives examines government responses to international investment arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution that may be available.