Does arbitration permit a self-sufficient contract? To what extent can relevance be disregarded without affecting the validity and enforceability of an award? What power does the arbitral tribunal have?

The multi-faceted role of arbitrators is complex and protean. While there is consensus on the fact that the nature of the international arbitrator’s role entails according the arbitrator wide-ranging powers and that the arbitrator also undertakes a panoply of obligations, the scope of these powers and duties is not always well defined.Views about the nature and scope of these powers and duties might diverge depending on whether arbitrators are seen as service providers, justice purveyors, or both. Following a brief overview of this core question, the contribution proceeds to identify the sources of an arbitrator’s powers. Next, the most important duties of international arbitrators, including those pertaining to ethical obligations, the need to ensure due process, the necessity to apply the proper law, the duty to provide a reasoned award, and several others are explored. This contribution also highlights the most important rights of international arbitrators, such as the right to receive good faith cooperation from the parties, as well as the rights to remuneration and immunity, amongst others. Finally, we make some observations on ways in which the rights and duties entailed by the complex mandate of arbitrators can be reconciled in the event of conflict.

At the core of the settlement of investor–State disputes, there is a dialectic between the facts and the law. The legal component of this dialectical exercise draws our attention to two issues in particular: the law to be applied in the settlement of disputes and the interpretation of international investment agreements (IIAs). Each of these issues is analysed in turn in Chapter 12. For applicable law, it provides an analysis of the choice of substantive applicable law and the content thereof. It then sheds light on how arbitration tribunals interpret IIAs, specifically what means they employ and how these are used to interpret those agreements. It focuses in particular on the means of interpretation explicitly mentioned in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, i.e. the general rule of interpretation, supplementary means of interpretation and the rules pertaining to the interpretation of treaties authenticated in two or more languages.