Dr. Javier García Olmedo, postdoctoral researcher within the University of Luxembourg Department of Law, has recently published an article in the February 2023 edition of the Leiden Journal of Law (Cambridge University Press).
Entitled “The fragmentation of international investment and tax dispute settlement: A good idea?,” Dr. Olmedo examines current reforms to international investment and tax law regimes seeking to address existing shortcomings of the mechanisms used for the resolution of investment and tax treaty disputes, finding that that policymakers are gradually adopting a fragmented approach towards dispute settlement in both fields, with the establishment of different and uncoordinated mechanisms.
Dr. Olmedo asserts that, an essential objective of any dispute resolution system should be to provide predictability and certainty and to consistently deliver comprehensive justice, arguing that it is doubtful whether the different mechanisms implemented in the tax and investment law regimes will achieve that objective, at least individually. Instead of fragmenting investment and tax dispute settlement, states should consider establishing a more unified and coherent framework in order to more adequately mitigate the concerns raised in each field.
He concludes that a fruitful alternative to fragmentation would be to establish a centralised multilateral standing mechanism for the settlement of investment and tax disputes, such as the Multilateral Investment Court (MIC), proposed by the United Nations Commission On International Trade Law, lastly examining some of the open questions which must be addressed before such a mechanism can be established.
The full article is available for download on Cambridge Core.