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The so called "Denial of Benefits" clause (DOB) gives the respondent state an opportunity to exclude third parties to the investment protection treaties from enjoying the benefits of the treaty without assuming reciprocal obligations. No less than seventy-three investor-state disputes have been brought to arbitration under the ECT since its entry into force back in 1998. The DOB clause in ECT, Art. 17 has never been successfully invoked. States have tried to exercise their right in at least ten cases without success. This paper poses two research questions. First, what are the distinguishing features of Art. 17 of the ECT that make it function differently from other DOB clauses? Second, given the arbitral decisions, can the Art. 17 of the ECT be effectively invoked by respondent states? The paper is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the topic of DOB clauses and the purpose of this paper. The second chapter is theoretical and addresses the topic of DOB clauses in general and further outlines their past, present and future. The third chapter focuses specifically on the Art. 17 of the ECT it examines the ECT arbitral awards and decisions that touched upon the clause. Chapter four aims to show the procedural issues of DOB clauses from the perspective of respondent states, it...

TREATY SHOPPING IN INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW ABSTRACT Treaty shopping is a term used to describe a change of the corporate structure of an investor with the aim of falling within the scope of a chosen investment treaty that would otherwise not be accessible to the investor in order to take advantage of its benefits. This thesis offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of treaty shopping in international investment law with the aim of clarifying what the limits of treaty shopping are and whether they are currently taken into account by investment tribunals. The thesis first examines several related theoretical issues. After introducing the notion of treaty shopping and outlining the negative impacts it may have (Chapter 1), the attention is turned to the question of how to approach the nationality of legal persons in international law and under investment treaties, since nationality is the key concept that enables treaty shopping (Chapter 2). Different corporate nationality criteria - incorporation, seat, control and effective activities - are introduced and described. The chapter also strives to illuminate how nationality is understood under the ICSID Convention. The subsequent analysis focuses on the denial of benefits clauses (Chapter 3) that are inserted into some treaties to prevent treaty...