The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution and Future

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution and Future is the first consolidated analysis of how the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) has informed the interpretation, application and development of international investment law and the resolution of investor-State disputes. Over the past several decades, the VCLT – the ‘treaty on treaties’ – has achieved a rich and nuanced track record of influence in international investment law, including in the context of investment treaty arbitration. This book demonstrates how approaches to key issues of treaty law in investment treaty arbitration diverge or converge from the VCLT and approaches of other international courts, as well as the lessons that investment treaty arbitration could derive from – or even offer for – the interpretation and application of the VCLT rules in other settings.

The editors have curated diverse and thought-provoking contributions from around the world to offer a variety of perspectives on the nexus between the VCLT, international investment law and investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS). By revisiting the role that the VCLT has played in the development of this field of law, this invaluable book unlocks insights into how the VCLT might be used to support international investment law into the future, including its development, reform and use for the resolution of the next generation of investor-State disputes. The insights and analyses contained in the book’s twenty-one chapters consider aspects such as the role of the VCLT for:

• interpretation of more specific approaches to treaty law drafted by treaty negotiators;
• treaty application in circumstances of contested State territory or succession challenges;
• temporal challenges arising in treaty interpretation;
• the status of bilateral investment treaties between European Union Member States and related termination endeavours;
• questions concerning the validity, termination and amendment of investment treaties, including as part of ongoing ISDS reform processes;
• current multilateral reform proposals, including the possibility of an appellate mechanism or a multilateral investment court;
• grappling with the challenge of fragmentation in international investment law, including the role of prior decisions in treaty interpretation, the challenges introduced by treaty conflict and the multitude of approaches that may be taken by national courts when implementing treaties like the New York Convention; and
• treaty interpretation and drafting as aided by emerging technologies, such as data analytics, machine learning, smart contracts and blockchain.

The book’s appendix provides a highly valuable tabular summary of ISDS arbitral practice relating to the VCLT, collating key references from over 350 different procedural orders, decisions and awards.