030674 KU Current Reform Topics in International Investment Law - with special attention to the role of the EU (2022W)

This course will introduce current “hot topics” in International Investment Law, including a specific focus on the involvement of the European Union. The course will deal with two areas - market access for foreign investors as well as the (legal) protections of foreign investments after such investments have been admitted. In all areas, we will discuss recently implemented as well as upcoming proposed reforms.

Market access for foreign investors is discussed in relation to the notion of investment screening, a topic of increasing importance especially since the adoption of the EU Investment Screening Regulation and the impending adoption of an EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

Regarding the field of legal protections for foreign investments, the initial topics will include the increasing transparency obligations during Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS), the recent reforms to the ICSID Rules (the Amended Rules or AR) and the Additional Facility Rules (AFR), as well as the presently ongoing discussions in UNCITRAL WG III,regarding reforms to ISDS procedural issues with a special focus on the EU initiative of a Multilateral Investment Court, but also the recently concluded ”Agreement in Principle” for a new Energy Charter Treaty. A further topic will be the reforms of investment policy directly connected to the EU: we will discuss the EU constitutional framework regarding ISDS, substantive and procedural reforms to EU investment agreements, as well as the new role of the EU Member States in implementing EU investment policies. A final topic will be intra-EU investment protections, summarizing the CJEU’s landmark cases of Achmea and Komstroy, discussions on the so-called Intra-EU BITs Termination Agreement – and what the future might bring regarding intra-EU investment protections.