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International economic law and the quest for universality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2019

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes
Laurence Boisson de Chazournes*
Affiliation:
University of Geneva, 40, Boulevard du Pont-d’Arve, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
*
Email: laurence.boissondechazournes@unige.ch
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Abstract

The quest for universality in international economic law has met many obstacles. This article begins from the proposition that there are various ways to conceive of universality in international law, for example whether the rules are accepted widely among states (omnipresence) or whether they are broadly coherent (generality). Homing in on trade and investment law, the article assesses how each of these areas has functioned as a testing ground for these different conceptions. An in-built quasi-universality characterizes international trade law with the WTO as a seemingly centralized universal institution. Such universality, however, has often been achieved through differentiation of rights and obligations (e.g., the Enabling Clause and regional trade agreements). In investment law, attempts at universalization through the construction of centralized institutions have failed. Nevertheless, certain common standards have emerged in this fragmented regime. There is also a debate around the use of the MFN clause as a universalizing tool and renewed efforts to universalize investment law are afoot. More generally, it is clear that there is little appetite for codification of international economic law, and that states wish to control its content through the conclusion of treaties. In the final analysis, this article asks whether it is time to conceive of universality differently, and particularly whether equity and collective preferences should be a more central part of the quest.

Keywords

customary international lawinternational economic lawinvestment lawuniversalityWTO law
Type
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 401 - 414
Copyright
© Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 2019 

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Footnotes

*

The author would like to very warmly thank Jason Rudall, Researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva, for his invaluable assistance in the preparation of this lecture given at the European Society of International Law’s Annual Conference at Manchester University on 15 September 2018.

References

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2 Simma, ibid., at 267.

3 Ibid.

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34 Ibid., at 46.

35 Ibid., at 54.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 For the text of the Havana Charter see United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, Final Act and Related Documents, UN Doc. E/CONF.2/78 (1948).

39 See P. Kuijper, ‘WTO Institutional Aspects’, in D. Bethlehem et al. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of International Trade Law (2009), 80.

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42 Ibid.

43 Ibid.

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45 Ibid.; Ruiz Fabri, supra note 40, at 287.

46 WTO, ‘Understanding on the Interpretation of Article XXIV GATT of 1994’.

47 See J. Viner, The Customs Union Issue (1950), at 44.

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50 WTO, ‘Monitoring Mechanism’, Ministerial Declaration of 18 December 2006.

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52 Ibid.

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57 See J. Sharpe, ‘Control, Capacity and Legitimacy in Investment Treaty Arbitration’, (2018) 112 AJIL Unbound 261; J. Pauwelyn, ‘At the Edge of Chaos? Foreign Investment Law as a Complex Adaptive System. How it Emerged and How can it be Reformed?’, (2014) 29 ICSID Review 372.

58 1966 Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States, 575 UNTS 159.

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63 See M. Clodfelter, ‘The Adaptation of States to the Changing World of Investment Protection through model BITs’, (2009) 24(1) ICSID Review 165.

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75 See S. Batifort and J. Heath, ‘The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization’, (2017) 111(4) American Journal of International Law 873.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 McRae, supra note 68, at 42.

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81 As of May 2019: Cameroon (18 June 2018), Canada (12 June 2016), Gambia (28 September 2018), Mauritius (5 June 2015), Switzerland (18 April 2017): United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, ‘Status, United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (New York, 2014)’, available at www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/uncitral_texts/arbitration/2014Transparency_Convention_status.html (accessed 28 February 2019).

82 The Convention entered into force for Gambia on 28 March 2019. It therefore also applies to the BIT that exists between Switzerland and Gambia.

83 United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, supra note 81.

84 See E. Duffy, ‘The Mauritius Convention’s Entry into Force: High Hopes with Little Impact’, 18 May 2017, Blog of the Groningen Journal of International Law, available at grojil.org/2017/05/18/the-mauritius-conventions-entry-into-force-high-hopes-with-little-impact/ (accessed 5 September 2018).

85 See J. Paulsson, ‘Universal Arbitration: What We Gain, What We Lose’, (2013) 79 Arbitration 184; I. Shihata, Towards a Greater Depoliticization of Investment Disputes: The Roles of ICSID and MIGA (1993); J. Yackee, ‘Pacta Sunt Servanda and State Promises to Foreign Investors Before Bilateral Investment Treaties: Myth and Reality’, (2009) 32 Fordham International Law Journal 1550.

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88 Ibid.

89 See Press Release of the Council of the European Union, ‘Multilateral investment court: Council gives mandate to the Commission to open negotiations’, 20 March 2018, available at www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/03/20/multilateral-investment-court-council-gives-mandate-to-the-commission-to-open-negotiations/ (accessed 25 February 2019).

90 See Puig and Shaffer, supra note 86; Roberts, supra note 87.