| Abstract [eng] |
The analysis of the protection of foreign investment is the key object of this master thesis. States were recognized as the only subjects in the classical international law. Therefore all international relationships and disputes where settled between the states themselves. In case of a breach of the rights of a foreign investor it was the state of his nationality to bring any kind of claims in regards to another state. Contemporary international law goes way further in regard to international legal personality of natural persons or legal entities. Partial personality, in particular in the field of human rights, is recognized for the natural/legal persons. Protection of property, as well as investment, is considered to be one of the most fundamental human rights embedded in constitutions and international treaties. Therefore, investors have a right to protect their injured rights by bringing claims in international tribunals. There are quite a few mechanisms for the protection of investors’ rights in the domain of international law. Such as international institutional arbitration, ad hoc arbitration, ECHR, ICSID and diplomatic protection by investor’s state of nationality. The analysis of the investment protection mechanisms wouldn’t be completed without the analysis of the notion of investor itself. There is no universal definition of the notion of investor. In most BIT this notion differs because of the different interests of capital exporting and capital importing countries. Therefore, this master thesis includes an analysis of the concept of investor. The analysis shows a trend of expansion of the mentioned definition in the recent BIT of Lithuania and other states. The hypothesis of this master thesis (mechanism created by the World Bank (i.e. direct settlement of the investor-state disputes) is the most effective way for the protection of investor’s rights) has been proved. The comparative analysis of the diplomatic protection and the ICSID mechanism shows that investment dispute settlement in the Center is the most favourable for the investor. Widely spread BIT add much to the “popularity” of the ICSID system, because these bilateral treaties include the consent of the state to decide all investment disputes in an independent international tribunal. Many commentators agree that in the context of today’s economy, diplomatic protection seems to be not the very best way for the protection of business interests. While the possibility of the direct dispute settlement between the investor and the host state allows the true claimant face the true defendant. |
