Researchers' Activities

On 1 November 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at the ‘International Symposium on China and Development of International Dispute Resolution System in the Context of “the Belt and Road” Construction’ at the Silk Road Institute for International and Comparative law at Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Law in Xi’an, China. His presentation, entitled ‘Building Legal Infrastructure for International Arbitration’, addressed the importance of a consistent, internationalised commercial arbitration framework across the range of states being considered for inclusion in China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

On 12-13 October 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at the 5th Asia Pacific ADR Conference in Seoul, Korea, organised by, among others, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the Korean Ministry of Justice. He addressed the changing landscape of investment treaties, paying particular attention to the investment treaty policy of the European Union.

CIL Research Fellow Ranyta Yusran and CIL Research Associates Shaun Kang and Elsa Sardinha participated in the 13th Annual Asian Law Institute Conference – ‘Asian Perspectives on Legal Globalisation’ on 19-20 May 2016 in Beijing, China. The Conference was jointly organised by Peking University and the Asian Law Institute. At the Conference, Ranyta Yusran spoke at a panel on ‘International Law and Human Rights’ and delivered a presentation entitled ‘No Longer Taboo and Yet Still Awkward: Human Rights in ASEAN’. To download her presentation, click here. Shaun Kang and Elsa Sardinha spoke at a panel on ‘International Law and Globalisation’. Shaun delivered a presentation on ‘The Exodus of Rohingya People and Malaysia’s International Obligations towards Refugees’ and Elsa Sardinha delivered a presentation on ‘The Right to Regulate: Towards a New Regulatory Paradigm under Recent Free Trade Investment Chapters? A Dissection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Canada-EU (CETA) and Singapore-EU (SEUFTA) Free Trade Agreements’. To download Shaun’s presentation, click here. To download Elsa’s presentation, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari taught an International Investment Law course in the Masters Programme on Trade, Investment, and Competition at the Universitas Pelita Harapan, Indonesia, which was held on 23-26 February 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia. In his lecture, James provided an overview of international investment law with some specific discussions on Indonesia’s recent investment policies. This was the fourth time that CIL was invited to teach this course. CIL’s past participation included the course being co-taught by James and Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow. [View photo]

On Monday, 22 February 2016, CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari was the guest lecturer at a workshop to advise Indonesian government officials from the Ministry of Trade, the Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board, the Central Bank of Indonesia, and various other institutions on cross-cutting issues between Trade in Services and Investment. The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Trade’s Centre for Advocacy and the EU-Indonesia Trade Cooperation Facility at the Ministry of Trade in Jakarta, Indonesia. In his lecture, James highlighted the need for Indonesian government officials to clarify their policy objectives both in trade and investment before the process of negotiating or drafting free trade agreements (FTAs). Furthermore, he noted the potential overlap of commitments made under trade in services chapter and investment chapters in FTAs that requires different institutions to cooperate and coordinate closely to prevent inconsistency. For further details about the workshop, click here: http://www.euind-tcf.com/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-investment-provisions-in-regional-trade-agreements/
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CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari was invited to speak at the Asia FDI Forum on 5-6 November 2015 in Hong Kong. James presented his paper “Searching for An Ideal Investment Protection Regime for ASEAN+ Dialogue Partners in RCEP: Where Do We Begin?” in which he discussed the baseline study and the method he used to better advise Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiators in the negotiation of the RCEP’s investment chapter. The Forum was jointly organised by the Centre for Financial Regulation and the Economic Development and Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (Columbia University) and sponsored by Oxfam Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Faculty of Law). It was attended by legal scholars and practitioners, economists, officers of international organisations and NGOs in Asia Pacific. To view his presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Principal Research Fellow J. Christopher Thomas, QC delivered the keynote address on ‘The New Era of Investment Treaty-Making’ to open the 4th Asia Pacific ADR Conference in Seoul, Korea on 3 November 2015. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Justice, UNCITRAL, the KCAB, and the ICC.

CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari attended the Southeast Asia Law Scholars Colloquium held by Universitas Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia on 22 October 2015. James presented a paper that he co-wrote with A/P Michael Ewing-Chow titled “Multiple Authorisation: The Complexity of Desentralisasi in Indonesia and the Potential Contribution of IIAs in Resolving Confusion”. James discussed the problems posed by the desentralisasi system on foreign investors in Indonesia. Subsequently, he suggested ways to alleviate the problems by utilising Indonesia’s existing IIAs to discipline the regional governments. To view his presentation, click here.

CIL Research Associate Mark Huber attended the Centre for International Dispute Settlement’s International Conference on “International Dispute Settlement on the Crossroads of Public and Private International Law”, in Geneva, Switzerland on 25 September 2015. The conference discussed the public and private paradigms in investment treaty arbitration, the intersection between the trade and investment regimes, and conflicts, coordination and international responsibility in international arbitration and domestic litigation.

CIL Research Associate Mark Huber attended the British Institute of International and Comparative Law Investment Treaty Forum’s Twenty-fifth ITF Public Conference, “The ICSID Convention at 50”, in London, England on 18 September 2015. This meeting of the Investment Treaty Forum, organised in partnership with the ICSID Secretariat, discussed the history of the ICSID Convention, the legal issues raised in its interpretation and application, and its continuing role in the investment treaty regime.

CIL Practice Fellow Emily Choo was invited to present her paper, ‘The Impact of Amicus Curiae Submissions in Investment Treaty Arbitration’ at the 2015 Taipei International Conference on Arbitration and Mediation from 6-7 September 2015. The conference was attended by about 60 practitioners and academics from more than eight countries across Asia and Europe. Emily spoke about the investment arbitration tribunals’ treatment of amicus curiae participation in investment arbitration proceedings. Her paper is the latest comprehensive study of this particular area and her study of the cases shows that there are three main approaches that such tribunals have taken. She concluded her presentation by examining the precedential value of these earlier investment arbitration cases for the ongoing Philip Morris v Uruguay proceedings. To download her presentation, please click here.

CIL Practice Fellow Ms Harpreet Kaur Dhillon was invited to act as one of four instructors in a workshop in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, from 6 to 8 July 2015 on ‘Public Policy and Investor State Dispute Settlement’, jointly organised by Myanmar’s Attorney-General’s Office and the International Commission of Jurists (Myanmar). It was attended by more than 60 government officials from across Myanmar, and presided over by Myanmar’s Attorney-General and Director-General. She taught in two 90-minute sessions on defences in investment treaty law, paying close attention to Myanmar’s existing investment treaties. She also developed, led and participated in exercises based on a simulation of an investor-state dispute that arises between Myanmar and investors of an ASEAN neighbour. To download Harpreet Kaur Dhillon’s PowerPoint Presentation, click here.

CIL Practice Fellow Emily Choo attended the Pearl River Delta Academy of International Trade and Investment Law, which was held in Macau and Shenzhen from 6 July 2015 to 17 July 2015. The Academy was organised by the Institute of European Studies in Macau and the Peking University School of Transnational Law and covered WTO law, international investment law, international trade and other areas of international law. The two-week Academy brought together postgraduate students from various disciplines to be trained by a faculty comprising leading academics from various fields.

CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari was invited to speak at the Art of Negotiating Trade and Investment Agreements Workshop: Taking Into Account the Global Tobacco Treaty. The workshop was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 25-26 June 2015. It was attended by academics and government officials from the Ministry of Health in the region. James spoke about the ‘Investment Framework from the ASEAN Perspective’ and its implication on tobacco control measures taken by ASEAN Members. He highlighted the importance of ASEAN Members to terminate their intra-ASEAN BITs, which do not provide enough policy space for States to take tobacco control measures without incurring liability. On the other hand, the newer generation International Investment Agreements, such as the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement and other ASEAN + Dialogue Partner(s) Investment Agreements contain general exceptions clauses that allow States to take measures to protect its public health, including tobacco control measures without incurring any liability. However, ASEAN Members must carefully formulate their measures to fulfil the requirements of such clauses.

Assoc Prof Michael Ewing-Chow was invited by the International Institute for Trade and Development (Thailand) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand to speak at a seminar on International Investment Agreements (IIAs) towards Global Sustainability. The two-day seminar was held on 25-26 June 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand. In addition to explaining the general framework of IIAs and its recent development, Michael also discussed shareholder recovery in investment claims and advised on options for IIA and BITs clauses.

On 25-27 May 2015, the Temasek Foundation held its Series on Trade & Negotiations: RSIS-WTO Parliamentarian Workshop 2015 in Singapore. This event brought together parliamentarian representatives from the region to learn and discuss further about the recent development in the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Director General of the WTO, Mr Roberto Azevedo, delivered his keynote address about the challenges for the WTO in the future. A/P Michael Ewing-Chow was invited to share Singapore’s experience in trade facilitation. In his talk, Michael talked about the situation in the region and how trade facilitation can help development. Using the history of Singapore and trade facilitation, he suggested some principles for trade facilitation, in particular the importance of dealing with corruption, garnering buy-in from all stakeholders, and upholding the rule of law.

Universitas Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) invited A/P Michael Ewing-Chow to speak at the ASEAN Economic Community Forum, which was held on 21-22 May 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In the panel on ‘Full Integration into the Global Community: RCEP’, Michael delivered his presentation, ‘RCEP = ASEAN Plus Six Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of the Parts?’. He discussed the current context of the trade and investment landscape in RCEP negotiating countries. He also talked about the potential gains if RCEP could be concluded and the challenges that the negotiating parties will face during the negotiation based on the gap between some of the ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners as evidenced by the existing ASEAN+1 FTAs.

CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari was invited by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia to present his research on the investment chapters in various ASEAN + Dialogue Partners Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the 1st Workshop on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which was held on 20-21st May 2015 in Tokyo, Japan. The Workshop was attended by scholars (mostly economists) from various universities in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. James presented his paper titled, ‘Searching for an Ideal International Investment Protection Regime for ASEAN + Dialogue Partners (RCEP): Where do we Begin?’ The paper conducted a baseline study of various provisions contained in various BITs, regional investment agreements and investment chapters of FTAs among ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners. He also proposed that RCEP should be used as an opportunity to consolidate the existing investment agreements to solve parallelism caused by the spaghetti bowl phenomenon of investment agreements among the negotiating parties. The Workshop is expected to produce a report for RCEP negotiators that can support the negotiating process.

CIL Practice Fellow Ms Harpreet Kaur Dhillon was invited to speak at the Regional Arbitral Institutes Forum (RAIF) 2015 on 9 May 2015 at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was part of a 3-member panel on investor-state arbitration, together with Professor Chester Brown of University of Sydney and Mr. Hussein Haeri of Withers LLP (London). Harpreet presented on the “Clash of Bilateralism and Regionalism in International Investment Agreements of ASEAN Member States: What Have We Overlooked?”, examining the overlap in investment treaty protection in existing agreements and why an investor may approach strategically the question of which amongst multiple investment agreements between the same State parties it may proceed in investor-state arbitration. The keynote address was delivered by Singapore’s Attorney-General, Mr. V K Rajah SC, and the conference was hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators. More than 100 participants attended the RAIF. To download her presentation in PDF format, click here.

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law invited A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, CIL Head of Trade/Investment Law and Policy, to be one of the panellists in the 24th Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference, which was held on 8 May 2015 in London, United Kingdom. The theme of this year’s forum was “The European Union’s Investment Treaties in Global Context”. On the panel, “Comparing the Texts-Substantive Protections”, Michael discussed the most-favoured nation (MFN) clause, which has been a subject of controversy in international investment law. He noted that the Investment Chapter of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement does not have an MFN clause, whereas the Investment Chapter of the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement (CETA) has one that carves out dispute settlement and limits MFN application only to treatment. He then proposed that the necessity of an MFN clause should be re-evaluated in light of States’ attempts to refine their new International Investment Agreements (IIAs), and that National Treatment (NT) and Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) clauses may be sufficient to address investors’ concerns regarding abuse.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) invited A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, CIL Head of Trade/Investment Law and Policy, as one of a select group of international investment law experts to a Peer Review Meeting for the forthcoming UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2015. The Meeting was held on 29-30 April 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. During the Meeting, the experts discussed the issue of International Investment Agreement (IIA) reform and how a holistic approach to IIA should be conceptualised. UNCTAD will include the result of the discussions in the forthcoming WIR 2015.

CIL Practice Fellow Ms Harpreet Kaur Dhillon was invited to speak at the 4th Conference for the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network of the Society of International Economic Law on 16 and 17 April 2015 at the University of Milan in Milan, Italy. Harpreet delivered a paper on its Investment Dispute Settlement panel titled “The Makings of the Modern Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Provision: the Case-Study of Singapore”, examining and critiquing the evolution of the ISDS provision in Singapore’s international investment agreements. More than 80 participants from around the world attended the Conference. To download her presentation, click here.

CIL Head of Trade/Investment Law and Policy Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow was invited by the ASEAN Secretariat and the World Trade Institute (WTI) to speak at the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) Forum on “Transforming Investment in ASEAN through ACIA”, which was held on 15 April 2015 in Jakarta, Indonesia. He shared his views about how ASEAN could be transformed into an investment hub by the ACIA and the potential benefits of ACIA to Indonesia. He also chaired a session on “The experience of the Indonesian and Third-Country Businesses in Investing in ASEAN”. The speakers of the session included Indonesian business leaders from Indofood, Semen Indonesia and XL Axiata, as well as Mr Rizar Indomo Nazaroedin, Director of Regional Cooperation of the Indonesian Investment Coordination Board (BKPM).

CIL Head of Trade/Investment Law and Policy Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow was invited by the ASEAN Secretariat and the World Trade Institute (WTI) to train Indonesian government officials during a two-day seminar (15-16 April 2015) on the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA). The theme of the seminar was how ACIA could be used to attract investments to Indonesia.

CIL Head of Trade/Investment Law and Policy Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow and CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari were invited to the 2015 UNCTAD Expert Meeting on the Transformation of the IIA Regime, held from 25-27 February 2015. This Expert Meeting is the first-of-its-kind conference that brings together multi-stakeholders – treaty negotiators, academics, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and relevant international organizations, e.g. the Organization for Economic Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) – to discuss and contribute to the transformation of the IIA regime which is currently under scrutiny by various States around the world. Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow was appointed as one of the Rapporteurs for the event. Various suggestions to improve the current IIA regime were put forward during the discussions, and the suggestions will be included in the 2015 World Investment Report.