Karl P. Sauvant, “An Advisory Centre on International Investment Law: Key Features”, University of St. Thomas Law Journal, vol. 17 (Spring 2021), pp. 354-372; previously published by the Academic Forum on ISDS, 10 September 2019. The following blog is based on this paper: Karl P. Sauvant, “The Case for an Advisory Centre on International Investment Law”, in Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 17 October 2019.
Abstract
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has put the idea of an Advisory Centre on International Investment Law (ACIIL) on its agenda. The Centre is meant to help under-resourced developing countries in international investment disputes. This paper begins with a brief review of the rise of such disputes and their costs, and outlines the principal characteristics of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law, as a precedent for an ACIIL. It then focuses on the possible key features of an ACIIL, namely the potential beneficiaries, the possible range of services it could provide, its governance, and its financing. The paper ends with a proposal for the way forward.