Bloc of countries refuses to discuss transparency in investor-state arbitrations
A Working Group of the United Nations charged with revising key international arbitration rules has rebuffed calls by many states and non-governmental organizations to discuss introducing transparency requirements into arbitrations brought by private foreign investors against states.
Many governments, particularly developing and other countries facing investor claims, spoke strongly in favor of transparency and expressed their desire that the issue be addressed immediately. But a number of governments, including governments that proclaim to be "strong supporters" of transparency, spoke against including transparency in the current revision process.
IISD and Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) have issued a joint press release
(PDF - 59 kb), as well as a joint paper (PDF - 227 kb) showing how the UNCITRAL Rules can be simply amended to address the needs of investor-state arbitrations.
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