Noshadha International Law Firm international investment arbitration team provides substantive protections to foreign investors depending on the international investment agreement upon which their claims are brought. They are different from the protections afforded by the domestic law of the host State, and at times the protection they afford may be greater.
Our most common protections afforded to foreign investors, with respect to which there is a significant volume of publicly-available arbitral jurisprudence, include:
Protection from expropriation;
Fair and equitable treatment (FET);
National treatment;
Most-favoured-nation treatment (MFN);
Freedom to transfer funds;
Full protection and security
Each of these protections has a defined meaning under international law, although the scope of these protections is always debated, as arbitral jurisprudence is non-binding and merely persuasive. The best known arbitration institution administrating investment arbitrations is the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Based in the USA (headquarter office in Washington D. C.).
Other institutions such as the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) also act as arbitration institutions administrating investment arbitrations.
The investment arbitration agreement may also provide for an ad hoc arbitration (the absence of an arbitration institution that administrates the proceedings). Typically, such ad hoc arbitrations are governed by the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. It is said that UNCITRAL ad hoc arbitrations are less expensive than ICSID proceedings, although statistics simply do not support this statement.
Frequently, investors are provided a choice of the arbitral institution they would like to entrust with administering their dispute. This choice depends upon the terms of the arbitration agreement upon which the dispute is brought.
We also regularly represent investors and states or state-entities in investor-state arbitrations conducted under the rules of ICSID and ad-hoc arbitrations governed by the UNCITRAL Rules.
We strongly recommend you, before engagement of contract and arising dispute, contact us for consultation as our practices show this strategy is fewer expenses, smarter and secure for clients.
