Investment Dispute Settlement à la carte: A Proposal for the Reform of Investor–State Dispute Settlement

There is widespread consensus that investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) is in need of reform. In late 2018, Working Group III of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), tasked with considering investor–state dispute settlement reform, agreed by consensus that reforming the current system of investor–state arbitration was “desirable” in order to address concerns relating to: (1) consistency, coherence, predictability, and correctness of arbitral rulings; (2) independence, impartiality, and diversity of decision-makers; and (3) costs and duration of proceedings (UNCITRAL 2018). Since then, delegations at UNCITRAL have started looking at potential solutions in order to address the concerns identified (Sachetim and Codeço 2019; UNCITRAL 2019a).