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PROTECTION OF INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT IN THE CONTEXT …
Šturma, P., Balaš, V.
Protection of international investment
in the context of general international law
[Ochrana mezinárodních investic
v kontextu obecného mezinárodního práva]
Charles University in Prague, School of Law, Prague 2013, 100 p.
The monograph “Protection of international investment in the context of general
international law” was written by two leading scholars of international economic law,
Univ. Prof. JUDr. Pavel Šturma, Member of the UN International Law Commission,
and head of senior of Charles University in Prague and Associate Professor (Doc.)
JUDr. Vladimír Balaš, PhD., lawyer, member of the Department of International Law
at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague, dean emeritus of the Faculty
of Law University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, for many years standing Director of
the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic,
and arbitrator.
These names alone are a guarantee that the subject of the monograph, dedicated
to an important issue of protection of international investments, in general – and
not only with respect to investment disputes against the Czech Republic, will be
a contribution to the matter, as well as being the research project of the Department
of international law on this subject in the past year.
The monograph is divided into six parts: The opening section is devoted to
investments and general international law; the second part deals with the sources
of international investment law; the third part is devoted to the interpretation of
contractual obligations in international investment disputes; the fourth part discusses
the standard of treatment to investments; the fifth part is about the responsibility in
international investment law with an excursion into the area of diplomatic protection
as a means of protecting investments; and finally the sixth section contains the
conclusions and the recommendations of the authors.
The author’s reflections contained in the monograph are theoretically sound.
It deals with defining the relationship of international investment law and sources
of international law as generally binding norms of international law (customary),
as well as with particular norms of international law. The monograph examines
the correlations of international investment law with the responsibility of States
for internationally unlawful conduct, in the light of responsibilities of the draft
articles prepared by the International Law Commission, and also summarizes the
responsibilities of States to investors, including forms and degrees of responsibility
of its consequences, including the possibility of invoking diplomatic protection and
bearing of the use of diplomatic protection and other means of investment protection
resulting from secondary normativity in international investment law.