Activities:

Relations between states and foreign private investors have long given rise to treaties between the investors’ home states and the host states. These treaties have established reciprocal commitments by states, particularly regarding the treatment and protection of foreign investments. This field lies primarily at the intersection of financial relations with foreign countries and the protection of foreign property. However, while retaining this connection, it has gradually evolved into a distinct branch of international law.

While dispute resolution was initially confined to diplomatic protection—which did not allow for any direct relationship between the state and the foreign investor except before the courts of the state whose liability was at issue—the situation has evolved in favor of arbitration. This shift began with the inclusion of arbitration clauses in government contracts; it then expanded significantly with the acceptance of “separate consent” arbitration, whereby an investor may initiate arbitration provided that the investment treaty to which the investor is entitled by virtue of his or her nationality provides for this principle.

Thus, the creation of a working group on international investment law within the French Arbitration Committee is naturally justified by the increasing number and complexity of disputes in this area.

The working group, led by Professor Jean-Michel Jacquet, is composed of eminent specialists, including academics and members of the legal profession. Two rapporteurs have been appointed: Maître Antoine Romanetti, a member of the Geneva Bar, and Mr. Sébastien Manciaux, an associate professor at the University of Burgundy.The working group intends both to address certain substantive issues and to examine current developments in the field of international investment arbitration. It intends, to the extent that this appears possible and desirable, to issue opinions or recommendations as appropriate.

Since its establishment, the working group has included the issue of “state-affiliated entities” on its agenda as a substantive matter. However, it felt that current events should take precedence for the time being. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)’s ongoing development of a set of rules on transparency follows the revision, completed in 2010, of the 1976 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, which are widely used in investment disputes.

With this in mind, and in collaboration with the French Arbitration Committee’s working group on UNCITRAL, led by Chairman Dominique Hascher, the working group on investment is reviewing UNCITRAL’s ongoing work to analyze and assess the issue of transparency.
List of working group members

Chair: Jean-Michel Jacquet, Professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva

    Heijacquet@aol.com

Rapporteurs:

Members:

  •         Pierre Mayer
  •         Charles Leben
  •         Eric Teynier
  •         Alexandre Hory
  •         Mathias Audit
  •         Walid Ben Hamida
  •         Yas Banifatemi

Auditor:

  •         Séverine Menétrey, Associate Professor, University of Nice – Sophia Antipolis

    Minutes of the January 12, 2012, Meeting