The Issue of Incoherence in Investment Arbitration: Is There Need for a Systemic Reform?

Abstract

This article analyses the issue of coherence in international investment law and the related quests for a structural reform of investor-State dispute settlement. After having analysed the need for coherence in international investment law and the necessity to integrate non-commercial values in this area of international law, the author considers whether a structural reform is necessary in order to achieve the goal of coherence. In this regard, it will be demonstrated that - on the one hand - certain self-adjustments are taking place in the case-law in order to ensure internal and external coherence in investment arbitration, and, on the other hand, the proposed reforms of the current investment dispute settlement mechanisms are difficult to achieve and would probably generate an even higher level of uncertainty. As a consequence, it is perhaps better to avoid putting into place hasty reforms and, in the meantime, to try to emphasize the role of arbitrators as guarantors of the credibility of the system.