The European Union and International Investment Law Reform
Between Aspirations and Reality

Examines the ways in which the EU is reforming the field of international investment law.

Ivana Damjanovic (Author)

9781009345392, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 July 2023

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.837 kg

'This is a comprehensive, policy-oriented study of the input of the European Union in the on-going struggle over the future direction of international investment law. Written with elegance and a critical eye on legal details, the book succeeds marvelously in the almost impossible task of bringing together and evaluating the different ideas underlying the various meanings of the 'rule of law' animating EU's internal and external policy as well as international investment law. It peaks in a sharp and realistic analysis of the prospects for the proposed International Investment Court. This is the best work that I have read on the law and politics and international investment law.' Martti Koskenniemi FBA, Professor of International Law, University of Helsinki, Emeritus

In order to understand the reform of international investment law envisioned by the EU, the author provides a comprehensive but concise analysis of the EU reform approaches, its constitutional and legal framework, the concepts of the rule of law and legitimacy, and the reasons for the reform. In particular, the book exposes tensions between the EU aspiration to enhance the rule of law in international investment law, as a means of legitimising this legal discipline, and the challenges of its reform approaches in practice. The analysis combines substantive and procedural aspects of the EU reform of international investment law in the intra-EU context and EU external relations. This book thus critically evaluates the EU vision of the rule of law in international law and its contribution to the development of international law in the field of investment.

General Introduction
Part I. International Investment Regulation: 1. International investment law: history, rules and procedures
2. Mapping the challenges of ISDS reform
3. Intersections of law and politics: legitimacy and the rule of law
Part II. The Internal Investment Regime of the EU: 4. The EU legal order and investment in the internal market
5. 'International' investment in the EU: intra-EU agreements of Member States
6. EU institutional framework: legal limitations to policy efficiency
Part III. The External Investment Regime of the EU: 7. Political context of the EU international investment reform
8. EU standards in international investment treaties
9. The Investment Court System: integrating the rule of (EU) law
10. The EU and UNCITRAL: a Multilateral Investment Court
General Conclusion: the EU reform – between aspirations and reality.

Subject Areas: International economic & trade law [LBBM], International law [LB], International relations [JPS]