BIT Unfair: An Illustration of the Backlash against International Arbitration in Latin America, A

Authors

David Ma

Abstract

With the survival of BITs at fulcrum, the Second Circuit recently decided a highly publicized and notorious case applying international arbitration in Chevron Corp. v. Republic of Ecuador. This comment will discuss Chevron and its effects within the wider corpus of BIT international arbitration to provide an illustration of the current debate and status of the BIT framework. The purported benefits BITs provide to signatory countries exist theoretically, and to test these theoretical underpinnings, this comment will discuss Chevron for the purpose of providing real context to a predominately academic debate. Chevron shall demonstrate that theoretical effects and practical effects are not equivalent and, possibly, why the current crisis in BIT arbitration exists. This comment takes the position that, despite the great potential of BITs, the continued survival of the BIT regime depends on evenhanded and fair judicial application, considerations ignored in Chevron.

Recommended Citation

David Ma, BIT Unfair: An Illustration of the Backlash against International Arbitration in Latin America, A, 2012 J. Disp. Resol. (2012)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2012/iss2/6