Foreign investment protection and regulatory measures taken by host states: ICSID arbitral tribunals' interpretation

• Grant number: 14/01746-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: July 20, 2014
• End date: December 19, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal Investigator: Jete Jane Fiorati
• Grantee: Érika Capella Fernandes
• Supervisor: Mara Valenti
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/08361-2 - Dispute resolution regarding foreign investments: analysis of the Latin American position facing ICSID, BP.MS

Abstract

The following Research Internship Abroad Project seeks to allow the fellow a more intense interaction with investment arbitration and with the main controversies submitted to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). On the current Master's Degree Research Project that she has been developing in Brazil, the fellow is attempting to understand the Latin American States hostility towards ICSID. These States' main criticism is related to the loss of their sovereignty and also to the loss of their regulatory capacity, in an environment that assures broad protection only to investors. It must be noted that one of the greatest dilemmas currently debated in the field of investment arbitration regards the issue of state liability for regulatory changes, especially when the Host State adopts a measure of general applicability concerned to public purposes and this measure affects the foreign investors' interests. The following research to be developed abroad pursues to examine if it is possible to conciliate the investor protection and the government's ability to implement measures concerning public interest. The research seeks to explore how ICSID deals with public interest and private interest and to understand if the State's interests are preserved in the investment arbitration. Thus, it will be possible to verify if the Latin American position towards the ICSID remains pertinent. This proposal is justified on the basis that it will contribute to the development of the main research, resulting in academic progression for the fellow, as well as to the Institution that she is from. (AU)