The Decision-Making Process of Investor-State Arbitration Tribunals

Book excerpt: The Decision-Making Process of Investor-State Arbitration Tribunals' explores the ways in which arbitral tribunals interpret the law in investor-state disputes. It examines the emergence of a specialised way of decision-making adapted to the characteristics and needs of investment arbitration. In the course of a single investor-state dispute, an arbitrator may make numerous decisions, from interpreting the treaty or national laws to taking into account case law, customs and policies. In practice, this process raises important issues regarding the consistency of arbitral awards and the predictability and legitimacy of the arbitral decision-making process. This is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of the transnational characteristics of investment arbitration and to analyse the interpretive arguments of investment tribunals. It particularly examines the way tribunals reason their awards making reference to treaties, precedent, policies, general principles of law and customary law in their decision-making process.