International Investment Arbitration: Challenges in Investment Law and the ISDS Reform Debate
UNCITRAL Working Group III held its 53rd and 54th sessions in early 2026, reaching a compromise on third-party funding disclosure and agreeing a broad scope for counterclaims by respondent states — two of the more contested items in the long-running effort to reform investor-State dispute settlement. Discussions on cost allocation moved more slowly, and the EU's proposal for a standing multilateral investment court remains a separate, unresolved thread of the same reform process.
International Investment Arbitration: Challenges in Investment Law, edited by Mesut Akbaba and Giancarlo Capurro from the Second Bucerius Conference on International Investment Law & Arbitration, engages directly with several of the same fault lines — including host-state counterclaims, arbitrator disclosure and unconscious bias in appointments, the emerging regulation of third-party funding across ICSID, UNCITRAL, and the EU, and the standard of proof for corruption allegations.
The volume is useful in three concrete ways: for counsel assessing whether a counterclaim strategy is viable against an investor, where the chapter on host-state counterclaims maps the current state of tribunal practice; for anyone advising on arbitrator appointments, where the chapters on disclosure and unconscious bias speak directly to a live debate ahead of any eventual UNCITRAL code of conduct; and for scholars tracking the EU's evolving role in investment screening and intra-EU arbitration, addressed across several chapters.
For a law library building out ISDS reform holdings, this collects emerging-scholar perspectives on the reform debate in one place — a useful complement to the doctrinal titles already in the arbitration collection.
CLNZ Books ships this title worldwide, with invoicing available for institutional and library orders.
Q&A
Q: What is UNCITRAL Working Group III currently negotiating?
A: Its 2026 sessions reached a compromise on third-party funding disclosure and agreed a broad scope for host-state counterclaims, as part of the broader investor-State dispute settlement reform process.
Q: Does this book cover third-party funding regulation?
A: Yes, including the emerging regulation of TPF across ICSID, UNCITRAL, and EU reform efforts.
Q: Does it address arbitrator appointment and bias concerns?
A: Yes, with dedicated chapters on disclosure obligations and unconscious bias in party appointments.
Q: Where did this collection originate?
A: From the Second Bucerius Conference on International Investment Law & Arbitration (BCILA), bringing together emerging scholars and practitioners.
Q: Where can I buy International Investment Arbitration: Challenges in Investment Law?
A: Through CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping and institutional invoicing available.