La Unión Europea y la judicialización de las controversias sobre inversiones internacionales

Abstract

Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Union obtained a new competence on foreign direct investment, which triggered some strong internal pressures. In terms of its relations with non-member countries, the EU caused a true paradigm shift, since the new common investment policy led to a turning point on foreign investments protection. The reform supported by the EU is rooted in a substantial criticism to the legitimacy of the dispute settlement traditionally used in this field, the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS), and the compatibility problems of said system with the legal framework of the EU. The EU reform sets to replace the traditional ISDS model with a new institutional structure, thereby promoting a systemic change through the judicialization of the investment dispute settlement. As a result, the EU has implemented some innovative initiatives, such as the development of investment court systems on its bilateral new-generation agreements and the proposal to establish a Multilateral Investment Court. This proposal is being addressed within the multilateral framework of UNCITRAL. This research focuses on the institutionalization process of the international investment dispute settlement promoted by the EU from a systemic perspective. This is achieved by analyzing the main characteristics, the arising tensions, and the challenges involved in the implementation of this new proposal.