The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the arbitration as a means of settlement of international investment disputes. The reason for my research is the dynamic growth in number of international investment disputes which appears to examine the adaptability and viability of international law. The thesis is composed of four chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of the problems. Chapter One is introductory, it defines basic terminology used in the thesis and deals with the means of investment protection. The chapter is subdivided into four parts. Parts One to Three describe the fundamental terms such as international investment law, international investment and investor from economic and legal points of view. Part Four describes the historical background and the current state of foreign investment protection. Chapter Two focuses on international arbitration as a means of investment disputes settlement. It mentions several possibilities and analyses the two predominant ones - the arbitration mechanisms of the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the ad hoc arbitration using the UNCITRAL rules. Chapter Three investigates the position of States in these disputes. It is subdivided into three parts. Part One compares the sovereignty of States with the substantive rights of the investors. Part Two examines the relation of this system to public law and Part Three questions the interests of private arbitrators. Chapter Four provides an outline of relevant Czech case law. Although it has not been very abundant up to the present day, it illustrates well the approach to decision-making by some arbitration courts and common faults of State agencies when addressing foreign investors. Conclusions are drawn in the final part of the thesis. The main aim of the thesis is to expand my initial hypothesis that international investment arbitration forms an unprecedential system, which addresses the balance between the interests of private investors and sovereign States. The standards of investment protection as described thereinbefore appear to be a powerful instrument to strengthen the position of foreign investors. Finally, several changes in the legislation and international treaties, which would equilibrate the balance back, are suggested in the Conclusion.

The field of taxation and its influence on economy has been a very actual topic in economic and political discussions recently. It is also a topic very controversial with two fierce groups of opponents standing against each other. Primary goal of this thesis is to analyze an influence of taxation on economy and find enough evidence to be able to say whether tax competition is beneficial or not. The paper is divided into theoretical part focusing on theories of taxation and concepts of international tax competition and practical part which analyses effects of taxation on GDP growth and other macroeconomic variables such as labor markets and international investment.

The paper shall offer a vigorous debate on the opportunities and challenges of enactment of Beneficiation Law. The term beneficiation has been used largely to mean downward linkages and value addition to mineral resources for the benefit and full participation of the communities in which the mineral resources are mined. The linkages and/ or interface between beneficiation law and international investment protection will also be considered. Here, the writer will endeavour to assess how such a law impacts on protection of foreign investments. The paper shall on a balance argue that the opportunities of enactment of this law far outweighs the costs of coming up with same. In cementing this argument the paper shall draw lessons and inspirations from South Africa’s beneficiation strategy and Indonesia which has a successful story on full beneficiation law on mineral resources. The paper will finally conclude by putting forward some recommendations. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

La protection internationale des investissements étrangers dans la Communauté Économique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) suppose d’établir la compétence de celle-ci à assurer une sécurisation des biens des opérateurs économiques ressortissants d’Etats tiers dans son espace. Ainsi, il a été démontré que, par le biais de ses instruments de réalisation de l’intégration régionale, cette organisation communautaire pourrait être amenée à assurer une sécurisation des investissements étrangers. Mais, quoique fusse grande la volonté de la CEDEAO d’assumer une telle fonction, l’analyse démontre qu’elle présente certaines insuffisances qui sont intrinsèquement liées à la différence de nature entre le droit communautaire et le droit conventionnel des investissements. Face à ce constat, il urgeait de trouver d’autres instruments supplétifs, voire complémentaires dans la protection communautaire des investissements étrangers. Ces dits instruments ont été localisés dans le droit international général, tant à travers ses règles substantielles que ses mécanismes procéduraux. Cependant, si la protection que procure le droit de la CEDEAO sur les biens des investisseurs étrangers a été jugée inefficace, celle du droit international, en revanche, semble excessive au point d’être préjudiciable aux Etats hôtes, si tant qu’elle nécessite un nivellement. À l’examen, l’observateur pourrait avoir la sensation qu’il existe un bras de fer entre le droit international et le droit communautaire dans la sécurisation des biens des opérateurs économiques étrangers. Cet observateur constatera ensuite que le droit de la protection des étrangers entre dans une nouvelle ère. En effet, longtemps limitée dans le cadre bilatéral entre Etat d’origine et Etat d’accueil de l’investissement, la problématique de la sécurisation des investissements étrangers a acquis une telle acuité dans la vie économique des entités étatiques qu’elle tend à devenir une affaire de communauté. Il se rendra, enfin, surtout compte que, si le droit conventionnel des investissements a pour visée la protection des étrangers, il peut, à certains égards, constituer un stimulant à la bonne gouvernance. / The international protection of foreign Investments within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) requires establishing the competence of the latter to ensure the security of the property of economic operators who are nationals of third States in its area. Thus, it has been shown that through its instruments for achieving regional integration, this community organization could be led to ensure the security of foreign investments. But, although ECOWAS’s willingness to assume such a function is great, the analysis shows that it has certain shortcomings which are intrinsically linked to the difference in nature between Community law and the Conventional law of investment. In this view, it was urgent to find other supplementary and even complementary instruments in the community protection of foreign investments within the community. These instruments have been localized in General International Law both through its substantive rules as in its procedural mechanics. However, while the protection afforded by ECOWAS law to the properties of foreign investors has been found to be ineffective, that of the international law, on the other hand, seems excessive to the point of being detrimental to host States, as long as it requires leveling. On examination, the observer might have the feeling that there is a tug of war between International law and Community law in securing the assets of foreign economic operators. This observer will then note that the law of the protection of foreigners enters a new era. Indeed, for a long time limited in the bilateral framework between the State of origin and the host States of the investment, the issue of securing foreign investments has acquired such acuity in the economic life of the State entities that it is tends to become a community affair. Finally, i twill be appreciated that, while the purpose of conventional investment law is the protection of foreigners, it may, in some respects, be a stimulus to good governance.

1 ABSTRACT Implications of Termination of International Investment Agreements The international investment arbitration proceedings under the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States ("ICSID arbitration proceedings" and "ICSID Convention") represents predominantly used mechanism of Investor-state dispute settlement. The adjudicative system of investment arbitration resolving disputes concerning breaches of foreign investment protection within the territory of the host states granted by bilateral investment treaties ("BITs") faces increasing criticism. The reluctance to abide by the binding awards of the arbitral tribunals on behalf of the host states and evolving displeasure towards the ICSID arbitration system triggered the wave of terminations of international investment agreements initiated by the states of the Latin America. Termination of international investment agreements significantly disturbs the procedural protection of foreign investments and ultimately deprives the foreign investors of the right to have their claims against the host states heard in designated arbitration forum. The ICSID arbitration proceedings are characteristic for the interconnection between international investment agreements, particularly the ICSID Convention...

This research addresses the need to foster human rights in the international investment law (IIL) regime through public participation in Kenya. It highlights the asymmetrical nature of IIL and the need to balance competing foreign investor rights and public interest concerns, particularly human rights in host states. It buttresses the vital role that IIL can play in the socio-economic growth of developing countries, more so, its role in the sustainable development agenda. This research spotlights the increasing human rights concerns in the proliferated foreign direct investments in the natural resources and infrastructure development sectors in Kenya while proposing innovative solutions to this problem through avenues for effective public participation as provided for in the existing international, and domestic legal, and policy frameworks. Lastly, this research analyzes the deficiencies of investor-state arbitration in IIL in providing access to remedy to victims of business-related human rights claims against foreign investors and proposes alternative participatory and more efficient judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms that can potentially enhance access to justice and ultimately human rights protection in the IIL regime in Kenya. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretorai, 2021. / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

No / The quest for environmental protection alongside economic development has been one of the prominent themes of political and legal discourse for several decades. This article examines the extent to which the principle of sustainable development (introduced under the Rio Declaration 1992) as a conceptual framework for balancing these competing goals has been integrated within the international investment law regime. It does this by examining decisions of investment tribunals on disputes relating to the legitimacy of government measures on environmental grounds. The analysis evidenced a lack of clear principles and mechanisms for balanced consideration of all competing interests; with the outcome being generally the subordination of environmental concerns to the protection of investors’ economic interests under international investment law. This supports criticism that although sustainable development has become one of society’s most sought-after goals, progress towards achieving this has been frustratingly slow. Against this background, the article goes on to determine whether the outcomes from the hugely anticipated Rio+20 Conference provided a framework or mechanisms that could promote sustainability integration in investment arbitrations. The article fi nds that while the outcome document from the main Rio+20 Conference did not provide such a framework, the Declaration from the Judge’s Conference, which was organised by UNEP and held simultaneously in Rio, provided some principles and mechanisms that, if fl eshed out, could contribute towards better integration of sustainability in the investment regime.

The concept of investments in international agreements on investment protection The concept of an investment is one of the fundamental constructs in the international investment law, as it is crucial for determination of bilateral or multilateral investment protection treaties' scope of protection regarding particular economic activity of investors in the host state territory. The purpose of this thesis is to provide examples of possible solutions of the dichotomy in the apprehension of the investment concept and its interpretation in practice, in particular with regards to the decisions of arbitral tribunals. A historical analysis of understanding of the investment concept is provided together with its current and historical interpretations in bilateral and multilateral investment protection treaties; with an emphasis that at present, there is no uniform legal definition of the concept of an investment. An absence of such definition does not limit the flow of foreign investments or the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral investment protection treaties, which contain broad definitions of this concept. At the same time, it is possible to trace a tendency to determine objective elements common to all investments, while the primary inspiration is drawn from the economic science and its concept of...

DEFINITION OF INVESTMENT IN INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION AND PROTECTION AGREEMENTS Abstract Definition of the investment is of particular importance in terms of scope of the rights and obligations arising out of the investment protection treaties. This is the case especially when we are in the presence of dispute between the foreign investor and the host state where definition forms the basis of the tribunal's jurisdiction. The object of this thesis is in spite of the absence of globally accepted legal definition of "foreign investment" to attempt to summarize most of the historical and current concepts of this notion and to provide by means of the various legal sources, case law as well as the doctrinal points of view the comprehensive approach to its content in the modern international investment law. However this absence of the general legal definition of the international investment was not considered as the obstacle for its use. Instead it represents the advantage in terms of potentially wide field of its application and the flexibility resulting from its openness. Bilateral investment treaties representing the mainstream of the regulation of international investments covers quite a wide field of economic activities to which the investment tribunals in the course of their function attempted to draw some...

O Direito e o investimento estrangeiro guardam uma relação muito íntima. Sabese que o Direito exerce o papel de induzir ou de reduzir o investimento estrangeiro, tendo em conta o tratamento legal conferido ao receber capital ou bens vindos do exterior. O núcleo central da presente tese é o estrangeiro. Costuma-se estudar a relação de investimento, porém é exatamente sobre a discriminação no tratamento conferido ao investidor estrangeiro que reside o principal papel a ser exercido pelo Direito Internacional do Investimento. Diante desta falha metodológica, a presente tese propõe-se estudar uma nova aproximação metodológica para o Direito Internacional do Investimento, sobretudo para adequar sua análise do contemporâneo Direito Internacional Público e seu princípio da cooperação internacional. Ao final da presente tese, conclui-se que o Direito Internacional do Investimento tem analisado as relações das chamadas Empresas Transnacionais e desconsiderado as pequenas e médias empresas, cuja participação no cenário internacional deve ser incentivada, em especial por meio do associativismo, entre empresas nacionais e estrangeiras. / The law and foreign investment maintain a very close relationship. It is known that the law plays the role of inducing or reducing foreign investment, taking into account the legal treatment given to capital or goods received from abroad. The core of this thesis is the foreigner. It is often study the investment relationship, but it is exactly on discrimination in treatment given to foreign investors that lay the main role to be exercised by international Law Investment. Given this methodological weakness, this thesis proposes to study a new methodological approach to the International Investment Law, mainly to adjust its analysis to contemporary International Law and its principle of international cooperation. At the end of this thesis, it is concluded that the International Investment Law already has explored the relationship of the Transnational Corporations and yet disregarded the small and medium companies, whose involvement in the international arena should be encouraged, in particular through associations, among national and foreign companies.