Lauterpacht Lectures 2008-09: 'Discretion and Policy in Investment Treaty Arbitration' by Dr Andres Rigo Sureda

Dr Andrés Rigo Sureda, a Spanish national, served with the World Bank in several capacities (1973-2000), including as Assistant General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel (1992-2000). Before joining the World Bank, he was legal advisor to the government of Venezuela and Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid.

He holds a law degree from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid (1966), a diploma in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (Bologna Centre) of the Johns Hopkins University (1968), and a PhD in international law from the University of Cambridge (1971).

Since leaving the World Bank he has developed an arbitration and mediation practice and often chairs arbitral tribunals, particularly in cases of investment disputes between investors and States.  He has lectured and written on issues of law and development, arbitration, international law and international organization. He lectured at the Hague Academy of International Law on The Law Applicable to the Activities of the International Development Banks'.

Lecture summary: Arbitral tribunals in investor-State disputes have considerable discretion rooted in the indeterminacy of international law and the vagueness of the standards of protection set forth in investment treaties.  The more abstract or general the terms of the norm or the treaty, the greater is the level of effective delegation to the tribunals that in case of a dispute will interpret and apply them.  The lectures will explore the determinants of the arbitral tribunals' discretion, the policies and underlying values reflected in their choices and the role of precedent as a limit to the exercise of their discretion.

• Now published by Cambridge University Press as 'Investment Treaty Arbitration: Judging under Uncertainty' (April 2012),

Publications:

The Evolution of the Right of Self-determination. A case Study of U.N. Practice, Sijthoff. Leiden, 1973.

"La práctica de las Naciones Unidas en el ejercicio pacífico del derecho de autodeterminación" in POLITEIA 2, Caracas, 1973.

"La surveillance exercée par la Banque Mondiale" (with C. Vuylsteke) in L'Inspection Internationale (G. Fischer and D. Vignes editors), Brussels, 1976.

"Effectiveness of Legal Reform", Current Legal Issues, vol. 3, IMF,1995.

"The Restructuring of the Global Environment Facility" Current Legal Issues, vol. 4, IMF, 1997.

“The World Bank's Response to the Latin America and East Asia Crises”, Current Developments in Monetary and Financial Law, vol. 1, IMF,1999.

"The World Bank and Institutional Innovation" in The World Bank, International Financial Institutions, and the Development of International Law, (E. Brown-Weiss, L. Boisson de Chazournes, and A. Rigo Sureda, editors), American Society of International Law, 1999.

"International Institutions and International Environmental Law: The World Bank's Contribution," paper presented at The European Conference on International Law, The Hague, 1999. Published in Spanish in Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional, 2000.

“El Banco Mundial y los Bancos Regionales de Desarrollo”, in Curso de Derecho Internacional XXVII, Inter-American Juridical Committee of the Organization of American States, 2001.

“Process Integrity and Institutional Independence in International Organizations: The Inspection Panel and the Sanctions Committee of the World Bank” in International Organizations and International Dispute Settlement (L. Boisson de Chazournes, C. Romano and R. Mackenzie, editors) 2002.

“Informality and Effectiveness in the Operation of the World Bank”, Journal of International Economic Law, 2003.

 “The Law Applicable to the Activities of International Development Banks”, Recueil des cours of The Hague Academy of International Law, vol. 308, 2005.

“Arbitraje de inversión” in Comentario a la Ley de Arbitraje (A. de Martín and S. Hierro, editors), 2006.

“Introduction to Investor-State Arbitration. A Case Study: Wena Hotels Limited (Wena) v. Arab Republic of Egypt”, contribution to The Legal Practice in International Law and European Community Law: A Spanish Perspective (C. Jiménez Piernas, editor) 2006.

‘La noción de inversión protegida’ in Arbitraje Internacional. Tensiones actuales (F. Mantilla-Serrano, editor) 2006.