CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

ONDŘEJ SVOBODA

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

Andreas Kulick (ed.) Reassertion of Control over the Investment Treaty Regime Interpretation Cambridge University Press, 2017, 398 pp. 1 [Zpět získání kontroly nad výkladem v systému investičních dohod] The Brexit slogan “Taking Back Control” or the US president Donald Trump’s disrespect of international obligations arising from trade agreements or the Word Trade Organisation membership are telling examples of States’ current unconformity with international binding rules underpinning the global economic governance. The volume under review is intended for readers who are eager to get better insight into current development of international investment law marked by rapid changes caused, inter alia, by states’ effort not to be subjected to extensive international obligations and to possibly serious implications following their breach. This development has been particularly typical for the sphere of foreign investment protection. We have witnessed a sharp growth in the number of investment treaty arbitrations followed by public backlash. Mega-regional trade and investment agreements like the EU- Canada Comprehensive Economic andTrade Agreement (CETA) or still unfinished the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) each include a chapter on investment protection. States which are the Contracting Parties to these investment protection agreements introduce specific substantive or procedural means in order to safeguard its interest against the system that they created and can seem to run out of control. In particular, the European Union currently promoting its new “innovative approach” in investment protection, India with a new 2015 Model Bilateral Investment Treaty and South Africa having terminated all bilateral investment treaties, all represent trend towards more control over investment treaties and treaty-based arbitrations. A warning signal for the current investment regime is the fact that, according to the UNCTAD, for the first time, the number of effective treaty terminations outpaced the number of new investment treaties conclusions. 2 Against this backdrop, Andreas Kulick succeeded in editing an important book which comprehensively covers this trend in international investment law. The book comprises a collection of fifteen essays which require proficient knowledge of the subject matter. They shed light on “a paradigm shift, a new generation of international investment law and arbitration” (p. 6) demonstrated in theoretical and domestic law approaches (Chapters 1 – 3), procedural aspects and avenues of reassertion (Chapters 4 – 6), substantive aspects and avenues for reassertion (Chapters 7–11) and policies and trend in reassertion (Chapters 12–15). The authors are distinguished scholars with diverse background (academics and practitioners, investment law specialists and public international law lawyers). In their contributions they evaluate different tools of reassertion and their efficiency in controlling the system of investment protections. Their theoretical propositions are often supported by ample evidence from recent treaty practice or states’ behaviour.

1 This review was created within the project of the Faculty of Law of the Charles University Progres Q04 – “Právo v měnícím se světě”. 2 UNCTAD, ‘IIA Issues Note: Issue 1’ [2018] 4.

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