Intensive Course: ICSID Arbitration

Prof. Emmanuel Gaillard, Professor of Law at the University of Paris XII; Chair of Shearman & Sterling’s international arbitration practice; Chair of the International Arbitration Institute.

Before the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States (the ICSID Convention), alleged violations of investment contracts or treaties by foreign States could only be raised by investors in the home courts of those foreign States, or by the investor’s own government in the context of diplomatic protection. These methods raised concerns about the neutrality of the home courts of the host state and about the predictability that the investor’s government would extend diplomatic protection to their nationals’ claims. As a response, and in order to promote international investment, the ICSID Convention introduced a system where investors could directly initiate arbitration proceedings before ICSID, the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, regardless of their own government’s support, avoiding national courts. There are now over 2’400 bilateral investment treaties in existence and, in recent years, the number of investment disputes has risen dramatically. ICSID is the international arbitration mechanism par excellence in this field. Acquaintance with the regime and case law of ICSID arbitration has now become indispensable for anyone seeking to have a full picture of arbitration. Students taking ICSID Arbitration will have the opportunity to achieve a precise understanding of the minutiae of this system, building on the general knowledge acquired in the general courses.