This paper was written by several authors, including
individuals who are not affiliated with the European Federation for Investment
Law and Arbitration (EFILA). Its original purpose was to provide a reasoned
commentary to the proposal, advanced by the European Union (EU), to include in
the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) a new system of
investor-state dispute settlement based on permanent courts instead of
arbitration (the investment court system or ICS). This study was first
presented at the EFILA conference in February 2016 and was subsequently updated
to reflect the more recent developments, namely the inclusion in the
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade
Agreement of a system that follows closely the EU’S proposal for TTIP. The aim
has been to ensure that the different perspectives and expertise of the
contributing authors are reflected in the analysis. The main aim of the report
is to present an in-depth analysis of the ICS in the context of the existing
investment regime, as well as comparing it with the dispute settlement system
of the World Trade Organization.