About This

Key to Images

  • Study Aid - This is a useful resource to introduce or brush up on a new subject specialty.
  • Preeminent Treatise - This is recognized by scholars and practitioners as one of the leading authorities on a specific subject.

International Investment Law Research Guide

Introduction

Foreign investment plays an important role in the prosperity and development of different countries, especially less developed countries. Without mechanisms to protect such investments, however, investors are reluctant to take the risk and bring their resources in a legally and politically turbulent foreign country. To address such concerns, several mechanisms have been developed to reduce the uncertainties associated with investing in such countries by providing assurances and security to foreign investors. The right to direct investor-state arbitration is currently one of the most important examples of such mechanisms.

This research guide provides students of international investment law in general, and investor-state arbitration in particular with information regarding some of the most important resources that a scholar or practitioner needs to guide his or her research in this increasingly important area of international law. This guide does not cover general sources of international law such as treaties or customs. It has been prepared based on the assumption that the users are familiar with the basics of public and private international law, including the law of treaties and conflict of laws.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the Wolff Library reference desk at 202-662-4195 or by email: intlref@law.georgetown.edu. You may also submit your question via this online form.

Electronic Resources

Bibliographies

  • The most comprehensive specialized database for research on different aspects of international investment law is hosted by The Hague Academy of International Law. Equipped with a powerful search engine, this database is in the form of a bibliography and originally was prepared to facilitate the work of The Hague Academy's fellows in the 2004 seminar on New Aspects of International Investment Law. It is constantly updated. To access this database, you should go to www.ppl.nl. Click on the bibliographies and then click on bibliography for New Aspects of International Investment Law. Follow the instructions on how to use the search engine. A great majority of the materials that you find in that database is available in the Wolff International Library. Use the Library's catalog to locate these materials.
  • ICSID Bibliography: International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which is the main arbitral institution currently administering investor-state arbitrations, also has a very useful bibliography. http://www.worldbank.org/icsid/pubs/bibliogr/part2.htm

Online Case Reporters

Investor-state dispute resolution cases are found in several databases. For instance, you can find them in ILM in Westlaw or Lexis. But, in line with the new transparency trend, most of these awards are currently available to the public free of charge through the following websites:

  • ICSID website. This website only contains those awards that have been administered by ICSID. http://icsid.worldbank.org/ICSID/Index.jsp
  • Investment Claims. This website is published by Oxford University Press and contains all the public investment arbitration awards, whether administered by ICSID, other arbitral institutions, or ad hoc. It also contains other information available only to subscribers, including headnotes of investment treaty cases, which provide a brief a summary of each case. The headnotes also provide commentary on each case, explain how a case fits into the existing jurisprudence, and contain bibliographical references. The subscriber service also contains a search engine.
    http://www.investmentclaims.com
  • Investment Treaty Arbitration Website. This website also contains all the public investment arbitration awards, whether administered by ICSID or by other arbitral institutions. http://ita.law.uvic.ca
  • NAFTA Claims, edited by Todd Weiler. This website contains all the awards as well as briefs of NAFTA Chapter 11 investor-state disputes. http://naftaclaims.com
  • NAFTA Government Website. These websites contain all NAFTA Chapter 11 awards and briefs:
    • United States http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3433.htm
    • Canada http://dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/nafta-en.asp
    • Mexico http://www.economia.gob.mx/index.jsp?P=2259

Online Legal Journals & Investment Arbitration-Related Databases

  • Kluwer Arbitration. This database contains different cases, notes, book reviews and other information related to arbitration in general, including investment arbitration. It is accessible through the Georgetown Law Library list of databases.
  • Transnational Dispute Management (TDM). This database contains information (articles, transcripts of speeches, discussions between professionals, book reviews, reports, etc.) regarding the most recent developments in the field of investor-state dispute settlement.
    http://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/about/welcome.html
  • OGEMID Electronic Discussion List. "This electronic discussion list has been set up...to provide professionals with a special interest in Oil-Gas-Energy-Mining and Infrastructure investment, legislative reform, contracting, arbitration and other forms of dispute management with a forum for peer discussion." This discussion forum or listserv is one of the most interesting phenomena in the field of investment arbitration. Some of the most distinguished scholars and practitioners post messages on the listserv regarding the latest developments in the field, which can be viewed by all subscribers. Subscribers can respond to all messages. This service is provided by the same institution that hosts TDM, see previous bullet point. After subscribing to TDM, students will have access to OGEMID archives of the discussions through TDM. http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cepmlp/journal/html/ogemidannounce.html
  • International Institute for Sustainable Development. This database provides useful information about current issues of interest in the field of international investment law. In addition, it has a newsletter that provides periodic information regarding investment treaty arbitrations.
    http://iisd.org/investment
  • UNCTAD Course on Dispute Settlement. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has developed modules on methods of resolving dispute in different fora (WTO, WIPO, ICSID, etc.). These modules are available online free of charge for educational purposes. For the purpose of this guide, the most relevant modules are those listed under number 2, International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.
    http://r0.unctad.org/disputesettlement/course.htm
  • UNCTAD International Investment Agreements (IIAs) Database. This database contains a host of useful information on various aspects of international investment law ranging from studies on evolution of investment treaties to those dealing with the content of specific standards of protection in investment treaties such as fair and equitable treatment. http://www.unctad.org/Templates/StartPage.asp?intItemID=2310&lang=1

Online Treaty & Law Databases

  • UNCTAD Database. This database has a search engine which allows the public to search for and access the majority of bilateral investment treaties that have entered into force to this date (more than 2,200). http://www.unctadxi.org/templates/DocSearch.aspx?id=779
  • OECD Website and SourceOECD (GULC only)
  • International Law in Brief. This service is provided by the American Society of International Law and provides free periodical newsletters containing the most recent cases of international law including investment arbitration cases.
    http://www.asil.org/ilib/ilibarch.htm
  • United States Trade Representative (USTR) The USTR website contains information regarding U.S. BITs, FTAs, and other investment and trade-related treaties, whether existing or under negotiation. In order access the information regarding U.S. BITs, click on the "Trade Sectors" tab and choose "Investment" from the drop-down menu.
  • Westlaw and Lexis

Commentary on Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts

This is available online in pdf. After almost four decades of discussion, the UN International Law Commission adopted these articles in 2001. It is widely recognized that these articles codify the customary law on state responsibility. They are also available in hardcopy in the Wolff International Library. See The International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility : Introduction, Text, and Commentaries INTL K967 .U55 2002

Specialized Journals

Other Journals

  • The American Journal of International Law INTL K1 .M44 Also available online through HeinOnline.
  • The British Year Book of International Law INTL KZ21 .B7 Also available online through HeinOnline.
  • Columbia Journal of Transnational Law INTL K3.O415. Also available online through HeinOnline.
  • Georgetown Journal of International Law INTL K7.E483. Also available online through HeinOnline.

Books, References and Case Reporters

Books

References

  • The Oxford Handbook of International Investment Law INTL REF K3830 .O94 2008
  • The ICSID Convention : A Commentary INTL K3834.A41965 S37 2001
  • Investment Disputes under NAFTA : An Annotated Guide to NAFTA Chapter 11 (updated regularly) INTL K3830 .K455 2006
  • Investment Promotion and Protection Treaties (1983-) INTL K1112.A49 I58 This print publication is updated regularly.
  • Recueil des Cours : Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law.
    INTL KZ24.H35 R43This valuable collection contains the teaching of some of the most prominent international law scholars and practitioners on different aspects of international law (public and private) in English and French. It covers a broader range of topics than is relevant for the study of international investment law, but it contains several different lectures on various topics of interest for international investment law scholars and practitioners. You can search for relevant topics in the bibliographic references in hardcopy, or you can simply go online to The Hague Academy's website. Click on Recueil des cours - Collected Courses and then, using the search engine that will appear, look for your different areas of interest. After doing this, you can find the relevant volumes in the Wolff International Library by using the Library catalog.
  • Bibliography on New Aspects of International Investment Law (Peace Palace Library)
  • British Institute of International and Comparative Law. This website contains a section called Investment Treaty Forum, which provides useful information such as case summaries as well as other materials.

Case Reporters

  • ICSID Reports : Reports of Cases Decided under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (1993-)
    INTL K3834.A495 I56 This print publication is updated regularly.
  • Iran-United States Claims Tribunal Reports INTL KZ238.I7 I73 Also available on Westlaw.
  • See also the following books which summarize the jurisprudence of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal:
  • Older case reporters such as the United Nations' Reports of International Arbitral Awards INTL KZ200 .A25, Moore's History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to which the United States has Been a Party INTL KZ183.2 .A2 1995r and other older reporters.

Don Wallace, Jr.
Christopher F. Dugan
Borzu Sabahi
Revised January 2009 (mms)

Page last saved 23-Nov-2009