ВОПРОС О СИСТЕМЕ РАЗРЕШЕНИЯ СПОРОВ В НОВЫХ ИНВЕСТИЦИОННЫХ СОГЛАШЕНИЯХ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО СОЮЗА

Abstract

The system of resolving international investment disputes has been subjected to intense criticism from the professional and lay public in recent decades. The lack of transparency, predictability, coherence of arbitration awards and legitimacy of the investment arbitration system has led to an increase in efforts to reform the existing system. The European Union is not only one of the most vocal critics of the current system, but also one of its most active reformers. Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the European Union has acquired exclusive competence in the realm of foreign direct investment as part of the common commercial policy. From that moment on, the European Commission began negotiating free trade agreements, many of which also include investment chapters. The most important ones are the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement concluded between the European Union and Canada (2016), Agreement on Investment between the European Union and Singapore (2018), Agreement on Investment between the European Union and Vietnam (2019), as well as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the European Union and People’s Republic of China, which has been agreed in principle at the end of 2020, even though the agreement has not yet been formally signed. In these treaties the European Union seeks to push for reform steps leading to the adjustment of the system for resolving international investment disputes in that they introduce a new system of investment courts that will gradually lead to the establishment of the multilateral investment court with the option of appeal at an appellate instance. This would undoubtedly increase the credibility, legitimacy and transparency of the entire system of internatnional investment dispute settlement. This paper aims to summarize, on the basis of an analysis of the relevant provisions of the trade and investment agreements concluded by the European Union over the last decade, the practical progress made by the European Union in reforming the international investment dispute settlement system. Since none of these treaties has become fully effective yet due to the lacking ratification of all EU member states, it will take several more years before we see full practical implementation of the discussed provisions.