NUS Law hosts Inaugural ISDS@Singapore Public Conference

On 13 September 2019, NUS Law, together with the Investment Treaty Forum (ITF) of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), and the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) presented the Inaugural ISDS@Singapore Public Conference. This is the first time that an ITF-led event is held in Singapore.

Convened by Professor Yarik Kryvoi (ITF Director, BIICL), Associate Professor Jean Ho ’03 (NUS Law) and Ms Lim Seok Hui (CEO, SIAC), the sold-out half-day conference explored the “Dimensions of Legitimacy in Investor-State Dispute Settlement”. Comprising two sessions which boasted leading policymakers, practitioners and academics as panellists, the conference captured and contributed to the ongoing global discourse on crafting an improved, legitimate and sustainable mechanism for settling investor-state disputes.

The first session, entitled “Systemic Legitimacy in ISDS”, was chaired by Mr Cavinder Bull SC (CEO, Drew & Napier). Panellists Emeritus Professor M Sornarajah (NUS Law), Mr Jeremy Sharpe (Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP Paris), Mr Jonathan Lim ’11 (Senior Associate, WilmerHale London) and Ms Inga Martinkute (PhD candidate, NUS Law) discussed the failings of, transparency within, and the assignment of interpretive authority of investment protection agreements in the current ISDS regime.

The second session, entitled “Substantive Legitimacy in ISDS”, was chaired by Mr Toby Landau QC (Essex Court Chambers) and followed a Tylney-Hall style format. Panellists Ms Daphne Hong (Director-General, Attorney-General’s Chambers Singapore), Ms Miriama Kiselyova (Member of the Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the European Union) and Dr Nimnual Piewthongngam (Lecturer, DPU Praxis Law) gave short presentations on a list of topics, and continuously interacted with members of the audience on those listed topics. The list of topics, which was circulated to all registered participants ahead of the conference, included qualitative treaty interpretation, dishonest or corrupt investors, environmental, human rights and labour violations, and conflict of treaty law and national or regional laws.

The Inaugural ISDS@Singapore Public Conference also benefitted from the generous sponsorship of Cambridge University Press, as well as promotional support from the Law Society of Singapore and the Singapore Academy of Law.