CWR > Volume 6(2); 2020 > Article
Research Paper
Published online: September 1, 2020
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/cwr.2020.6.2.05

The ICSID Tribunals in Deciding International Investment Corruption Cases: Possible Solutions

Hongwu Yin
Hunan Normal University
Law School of Hunan Normal University, 36# Lushan Road, Yuelu District, Changsha Hunan Province, PRC.
Corresponding Author: lawschool2014@163.com

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Corruption issues have attracted increasing attention in international investment law studies and practice in recent years. When confronted with the corruption defenses invoked mainly by host states, some ICSID tribunals decided to decline the jurisdiction. However, part of the arbitral jurisprudence has aroused strong criticism. ICSID tribunals are legitimately supposed to exercise the jurisdiction and are lawfully obliged to investigate the nature of corrupt activities, and strike the balance of interests between the disputing parties. It is preferable to strengthen the collaborative interaction between ICSID and the domestic anti-corruption enforcement authorities to combat international investment corruption. The existing treaties (or specific treaty provisions) to combat corruption in international business transactions and the requirement for international cooperation, as well as domestic anti-corruption enforcement legislation, have laid a solid legal foundation for the establishment of such an anti-corruption coordinative mechanism between the ICSID and domestic corruption regulatory authorities on a global level.

Keywords : Corruption Defense, ICSID, Balancing Approach, International Anti-Corruption Coordinative Mechanism

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