The selection and regulation of the investment courts' members in treaties concluded by the European Union
Abstract
The author focuses on the current developments in the fi eld of investment dispute resolution from the perspective of the European Union. In 2015, as a result of the European Commission's public consultation on investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the European Union adopted a new approach to ISDS in its free trade and investment protection agreements.
Under this policy, ISDS is set to be replaced by a bilateral investment court system and, consequently by a multilateral investment court. By introducing those new concepts, the EU has been facing the question of how to select and appoint members of the international (quasi)judicial mechanisms while providing their impartiality, independence and expertise.
It was exactly the issue of arbitrators which has been one of the main sources of the backlash against ISDS.