Summary

For many years, the annual Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop‘ has been a forum to discuss fundamental challenges to investment law. This year‘s workshop, held on 8-9 March 2019, addresses the challenges investor-state dispute settlement and substantive investment protection face in light of increasing digitalisation.

Key questions include:

Can processing data be a protected investment? Which State is the host State of a digital investment without physical presence? What are the host State’s responsibilities towards investors facing digital threats, such as cyber-attacks? Do current investment protection standards leave enough regulatory space for States to regulate the digital transformation of their economies and societies?

Digitalisation is also reshaping the settlement of investment disputes. How must proceedings be conducted in order to provide for sufficient cybersecurity? Are online-hearings an effective tool to enhance transparency and efficiency of proceedings? How do tribunals keep up with the challenge of having to analyze the authenticity and legal value of (potentially large amounts) of digital evidence? To which extent can technology help the advocate’s cause in convincing the tribunal?

Programme

Friday, 8 March 2019 (from 18.00 hrs)

• Welcome by Rainer Hofmann (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main)
• Keynote address by Annette Magnusson (Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce): “Uber Yourself Before you Are Kodaked – How Can International Investment Law Meet The Challenge of Digitalization?”
• Practitioners’ Roundtable: Investment Dispute Settlement and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities
• Reception

Saturday, 9 March (9.00 – 16.00 hrs)

• Opening Remarks and General Introduction
• Panel 1: Foreign Investment in the Digital Economy
• Panel 2: Digital Threats and Crypto-Investments
• Panel 3: Regulatory Challenges in the Age of Digitalisation
• Closing remarks

Contributors from ACIL include Stephan Schill and Vid Prislan.

The full programme is available from the Wilhelm Merton Centre's (University of Frankfurt) website.

Practicalities

Attendance is free, but subject to registration. If you are interested in participating, please contact Sabine Schimpf, Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order, University of Frankfurt by 23 February 2019.

This workshop is co-organised by the Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order, the University of Frankfurt, the University of Glasgow School of Law and the Amsterdam Center for International Law and Governance.