Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws

Investment treaties and arbitral rules traditionally impose few legally binding duties on States to release investment treaty awards. Despite this, possibly in light of the growing recognition of a human right of access to public information, recent efforts towards transparency in investment arbitra...

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Main Authors: Filip Balcerzak, Jarrod Hepburn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Groningen Press 2015-05-01
Series:Groningen Journal of International Law
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ugp.rug.nl/GROJIL/article/view/31117
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spelling doaj-c26a8af40b1741e49b597012c5904a5e2021-08-24T12:12:11ZengUniversity of Groningen PressGroningen Journal of International Law2352-26742015-05-0131147–170147–17010.21827/5a86a8b976e2921071Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information LawsFilip BalcerzakJarrod HepburnInvestment treaties and arbitral rules traditionally impose few legally binding duties on States to release investment treaty awards. Despite this, possibly in light of the growing recognition of a human right of access to public information, recent efforts towards transparency in investment arbitration proceedings have led to significant changes in both legal instruments and State practice. However, many States remain reluctant to commit to transparency obligations, or to comply with transparency obligations where they already exist. This article reviews the utility of one lesserknown tool, domestic freedom of information (FOI) laws, in promoting transparency in the particular context of investment arbitration. The article focuses on the Republic of Poland, a State known to be holding a sizeable number of unpublished investment treaty awards. The Polish experience discussed in this article suggests that, despite the many problems encountered, domestic FOI laws do have the potential, even if qualified, to constitute a factor in the growing trend towards transparency.https://ugp.rug.nl/GROJIL/article/view/31117freedom of informationinvestment arbitrationtransparencypolandhuman rights
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Filip Balcerzak
Jarrod Hepburn
spellingShingle Filip Balcerzak
Jarrod Hepburn
Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
Groningen Journal of International Law
freedom of information
investment arbitration
transparency
poland
human rights
author_facet Filip Balcerzak
Jarrod Hepburn
author_sort Filip Balcerzak
title Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
title_short Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
title_full Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
title_fullStr Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
title_full_unstemmed Publication of Investment Treaty Awards: The Qualified Potential of Domestic Access to Information Laws
title_sort publication of investment treaty awards: the qualified potential of domestic access to information laws
publisher University of Groningen Press
series Groningen Journal of International Law
issn 2352-2674
publishDate 2015-05-01
description Investment treaties and arbitral rules traditionally impose few legally binding duties on States to release investment treaty awards. Despite this, possibly in light of the growing recognition of a human right of access to public information, recent efforts towards transparency in investment arbitration proceedings have led to significant changes in both legal instruments and State practice. However, many States remain reluctant to commit to transparency obligations, or to comply with transparency obligations where they already exist. This article reviews the utility of one lesserknown tool, domestic freedom of information (FOI) laws, in promoting transparency in the particular context of investment arbitration. The article focuses on the Republic of Poland, a State known to be holding a sizeable number of unpublished investment treaty awards. The Polish experience discussed in this article suggests that, despite the many problems encountered, domestic FOI laws do have the potential, even if qualified, to constitute a factor in the growing trend towards transparency.
topic freedom of information
investment arbitration
transparency
poland
human rights
url https://ugp.rug.nl/GROJIL/article/view/31117
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AT jarrodhepburn publicationofinvestmenttreatyawardsthequalifiedpotentialofdomesticaccesstoinformationlaws
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