NEWSLETTER-2019-metin

182 NEWSLETTER 2019 A Shift from Arbitration to Multilateral Investment Court System at EU* Att. Tilbe Birengel Introduction The establishment of an international investment court system has been one of the major objectives of the European Commission since 2015 1 , as the investor-to-state dispute settlement via arbitration is argued to become obsolete. In this article, the shift from arbitration into a permanent court system will be covered. The Reasons Behind an Investment Court System As per the Fact Sheet 2 of the Commission of 2017: (i) Case-by-case establishment of ad hoc tribunals with diver- ging approaches on investment rules avoid predictability in investment disputes; (ii) The current system is not transparent enough, since it lacks systematic publication of arbitral awards or decisions; (iii) Due to the party appointed nature of the arbitrators, partiality concerns are on the rise; and (iv) The limitations on grounds for rights of appeal in the current ad-hoc mechanism reduce comprehensiveness. * Article of February 2019 1 “Trade for All - New EU Trade and Investment Strategy”, 14.10.2015, http:// trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/october/tradoc_153846.pdf (Access date: February 2019). 2 The Fact Sheet on the European Commission Proposal for a Multilateral In- vestment Court, http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2017/september/tra- doc_156042.pdf (Access date: February 2019).