International Investment Law Research Guide

• International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
• Other Arbitral Institutions That Frequently Administer Investor-State Arbitrations
• Online Access to Arbitration Rules Issued by Multiple Arbitral Institutions
   

Investment treaties and national laws governing foreign direct investment often designate a forum for arbitrating disputes between foreign investors and sovereign states.  ICSID, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, is the most frequently designated forum, but another arbitral institution specializing in the resolution of cross-border commercial disputes also may be designated.  

Such institutions usually provide a neutral set of procedural rules, maintain a roster of qualified arbitrators, resolve challenges to the selection of arbitrators, and provide space for holding hearings.  If the relevant investment treaty or law does not designate a forum, the parties may select an arbitral institution of their choice to administer the arbitration or proceed on an ad hoc basis without the assistance of an arbitral institution.
 

International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

ICSID was established in 1966 by the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States.  Under the terms of the Convention, ICSID provides arbitration services, as well as mediation and conciliation services, to resolve disputes between a contracting state and foreign investors from another contracting state. 

The ICSID website provides access to the following information:

• The ICSID Convention and its current procedural rules in English, French, and Spanish;
• Current and prior versions of ICSID Rules & Regulations, as well as related documentation.
• A collection of Working Papers concerning the most recent (2022) Amendment of ICSID's procedural rules.
• Overviews of ICSID arbitration under the current (2022) rules and under the prior (2006) rules;
• Overviews of ICSID conciliation under the current (2022) rules and under the prior (2006) rules;
• An overview of the Additional Facility Rules, under which ICSID is authorized to facilitate the resolution of disputes between non-contracting states and nationals of other non-contracting states.
• Multiple drafts of a Proposed Code of Conduct for ISDS Adjudicators developed by the ICSID Secretariat and the Secretariat of the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) as part of UNCITRAL's Working Group on ISDS Reform.
   

Other Arbitral Institutions That Frequently Administer Investor-State Arbitrations

Listed below are links to the websites of some of the institutions, other than ICSID, that regularly administer investor-state arbitrations. For a more comprehensive listing of arbitral institutions worldwide, consult the Arbitral Institutes Directory maintained by the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, which can be browsed alphabetically or by country.  Most arbitral institutions post current and prior editions of their procedural rules on their websites, from which they are available for download in PDF format. 

• Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)
• International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) (Paris)
• London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
• Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) (The Hague)
• Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) (Geneva and Zurich)
• United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL does not administer international arbitrations, but it does publish a set of procedural rules that is widely used by parties to ad hoc arbitrations.)
   

Online Access to Arbitration Rules Issued by Multiple Institutions

The subscription-based resources described below provide online access to current (and sometimes also superseded) arbitration rules issued by multiple arbitral institutions.  Jus Mundi and Kluwer Arbitration offer the broadest coverage.  Westlaw's coverage is more selective.

• Investor-State Law Guide (ISLG)
  ISLG provides access to arbitration rules issued by dozens of arbitral institutions throughout the world.  Begin by selecting "Treaties and Rules" from the "Documents Library" menu on the lower left side of the homepage.  After page refreshes, use the "Filter by Type" menu to select "Arbitration Rules."  Rules will be listed alphabetically by name of the issuing institution.
   
• Jus Mundi
  To browse, click on the horizontal bars on the left side of the search box to display the filters menu.  Then select "Rules" as the Content Type.  Then scroll down to the Organization filter to select the desired arbitral institution.  To search within the full texts of arbitration rules issued by multiple institutions, select the desired institutions from the Organizations menu.  Then apply the selected filters before searching.
   
• Kluwer Arbitration
  Select "Organizations" on the menu bar below the search box.  Then select the desired arbitral institution from the menu.  After the page refreshes, select Rules from the content menu.  To search within the full texts of arbitration rules, click on the white triangle to the left of the search box to display the search filters.  Select "Rules" as the content type and enter one or more search terms in the search box.
   
• Westlaw
  Westlaw offers procedural rules from two dozen international arbitral institutions.  Select the rules of the desired arbitral institution from the alphabetical list.  To search across the full texts of rules issued by all of the institutions listed, enter search terms in the search box at the top of the page.