PhD defence W. (Wanli) Ma

Summary:

In recent years, international investment law in general and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) have become victims of their own great success. With the increasing number of investor-state arbitration (ISA) cases, both public actors and private actors expressed their concern over the dispute settlement mechanism between host states and foreign investors. The international community has launched initiatives in an effort to reform ISDS, most of the proposals so far have been concerned with ISA instead of the roles of domestic courts. Considering that domestic courts also play important roles in ISDS, attempts to reform ISDS should also look at the roles and positions of domestic courts in the current ISDS system. This thesis focuses on the adjudicative role of the domestic courts of host states and the supervisory role of domestic courts at the seat of arbitration and investigates whether the current set-up of the system is appropriate and effective. In the conclusion, I argue that a smart mix of court litigation and investment arbitration should be established and the judicial review mechanism should be replaced by a de-localized appellate mechanism.