International / Multilateral Investment Court

States have considered the desirability, and form, of a potential international court to hear investment-related disputes. CCSI’s work considers, from a principled-based approach, the desirability of an investment court, what concerns about ISDS it would solve, engages with existing proposals, and makes proposals on what such an institution should look like and do.

In March 2017 CCSI made a submission to the European Commission (EC) in response to its “Public consultation on a multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement.” CCSI’s submission consisted of a response to the form questionnaire created by the EC and a supplementary “Position Paper” to explain in greater depth CCSI’s views on the EC’s proposed Multilateral Investment Court (MIC).

In its Position Paper, CCSI emphasizes the importance of international investment and international law to sustainable development objectives. The submission stresses, however, that the EC’s proposed MIC does not address, and therefore does not remedy, the most problematic aspects of the current Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system and thus represents a missed opportunity for true reform. CCSI analyzes the frequently cited objectives of ISDS, on which the MIC is based, and explaines the reasons for which these are not the correct objectives from a sustainable development perspective. CCSI’s position is that the MIC will serve to further entrench and expand a broken dispute resolution system. CCSI concludes with the importance of developing an inclusive investment dispute resolution system and notes that CCSI and other partners are engaged in discussions of what this kind of reform should look like.