Book Title: Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Abstract: Contract claims are typically brought by investors against States and State entities. Contract claims brought by States or their entities against investors in contract-based investment arbitration are less common. Contract claims against investors by States are effectively precluded in treaty-based investment arbitration where only protected investors can initiate dispute settlement proceedings against States, but not vice versa. Due to the much higher frequency of contract claims brought by investors, this entry will focus on investor-led contract claims in investment arbitration. Depending on whether the investor avails itself of contract-based investment arbitration or treaty-based investment arbitration, a contract claim may stand on its own, or be intertwined with a treaty claim. This has an important bearing on, and may even limit, the causes of action that an investor can bring against the State and/or its entities. In mapping out the landscape of contract claims in investment arbitration, this entry will first explain the distinction between contract claims and treaty claims in section B, before reviewing the different causes of action arising from contract claims in section C.