Anatomy of the Law and Practice of Interim Protective Measures in International Investment Arbitration

Abstract

Article This article provides an overall analysis of the law and practice of interim protection in international investment arbitration, covering the most commonly used arbitral frameworks (International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention, and the Arbitration Rules of the ICSID Additional Facility, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)). It analyzes the legal status of interim protective measures and more specifically their legal basis, their binding force, and the procedural aspects of their adoption, highlighting significant dissimilarities between ICSID Convention and other arbitral mechanisms when it comes to the role of domestic courts in this process. The article also looks into the substantive aspects of interim protection, a field where the differences between these frameworks tend to become less pronounced. Despite wording differences in arbitration rules, we are witnessing an important convergence of the practice of tribunals and a common reliance by arbitrators on the jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals.