Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:03:55.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reconfiguring Sovereignty: NAFTA Chapter 11 Dispute Settlement Procedures and the Issue of Public-Private Authority

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2006

Stephen McBride
Stephen McBride
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. This article focuses on the claim that authority is shifting from public into private hands. To partially test that thesis it examines the procedures for settling disputes under NAFTA Chapter 11 (itself an example of the broader category of investor-state provisions found in bilateral investment agreements and some international conventions). The article detects evidence of a delegation or transfer of public authority to private processes. It deals only incidentally with NAFTA Chapter 11's grant to investors of the right to make direct claims against signatory governments; rather, it concentrates on the procedures for resolving such claims, and the means available to states to assert the public interest. Specifically, this article examines the way that the NAFTA Chapter 11 dispute resolution mechanism is rooted in private arbitration processes and seeks to determine the effectiveness of the means available to public authorities to alter decisions emanating from them, if they are deemed to be contrary to the public interest.

Résumé. Cet article considère l'argument selon lequel l'exercice de l'autorité publique est en train de passer du domaine public au domaine privé. Afin de vérifier, au moins partiellement, cette thèse l'article passe en revue les procédures d'adjudication des différends aux termes du chapitre 11 de l'ALENA - qui est lui-même un exemple de la catégorie plus vaste des dispositions concernant le traitement des investisseurs, et leur droit d'apparaître devant les tribunaux d'arbitrage au même titre que les États, que l'on trouve dans certains traités bilatéraux et internationaux. L'article décèle les indices d'une délégation ou d'un transfert de l'autorité publique vers le secteur privé. Il ne porte que tangentiellement sur le chapitre 11 de l'ALENA et les droits des investisseurs de porter plainte contre les gouvernements signataires; il analyse, par contre,de manière plus approfondie les procédures utilisées pour résoudre de telles plaintes et les moyens dont disposent les États pour défendre l'intérêt général. L'auteur examine plus particulièrement l'enracinement de la procédure de résolution des différends du chapitre 11 de l'ALENA dans les processus d'arbitrage privé et cherche à déterminer l'efficacité des moyens dont disposent les autorités publiques pour modifier les décisions qui en résultent si elles s'avèrent être contraires à l'intérêt général.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 755 - 775
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afilalo, Ari. 2001. “Constitutionalization Through the Back Door: A European Perspective on NAFTA's Investment Chapter.” New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 34(1): 1–55.Google Scholar
Alvarez, Guillermo Aguilar and William W. Park. 2003. “The New Face of Investment Arbitration: NAFTA Chapter 11.” Yale Journal of International Law 28: 365–407.Google Scholar
Attorney General of Canada. 2003. “Memorandum of Fact and Law of the Applicant, the Attorney General of Canada.” Attorney General of Canada v. S.D. Myers Inc.: Federal Court of Canada. http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/tna-nac/disp/SDM-review_archive-en.asp.
Berman, Paul Schiff. 2005. “From International Law to Law and Globalization.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 43 (2): 485–556.Google Scholar
Borzel, Tanja A. and Thomas Risse. 2005. “Public-Private Partnerships: Effective and Legitimate Tools of Transnational Governance?” In Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-First Century, eds. Edgar Grande and Louis W. Pauly. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Boyer, Robert and Daniel Drache, eds. 1996. States Against Markets: The Limits of Globalization. London: Routledge.
Brodie, Janine. 1996. “New State Forms, New Political Spaces.” In States Against Markets: The Limits of Globalization, eds. Robert Boyer and Daniel Drache. London: Routledge.
Byrne, Justin. 2000. “NAFTA Dispute Resolution: Implementing True Rule-Based Diplomacy Through Direct Access.” Texas International Law Journal 35: 415–434.Google Scholar
Chambers, Edward J. and Peter H. Smith, eds. 2002. NAFTA in the New Millennium. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Clarkson, Stephen. 2002. “Systemic or Surgical? Possible Cures for NAFTA's Investor-State Dispute Process.” Canadian Business Law Journal 36: 368–387.Google Scholar
Court of Appeal for Ontario. 2005. The United Mexican States v Karpa. Dockett C41169. http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2005/january/c41169.htm (January 25, 2006).
Cutler, A. Claire. 2003. Private Power and Global Authority: Transnational Merchant Law in the Global Political Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dezalay, Yves and Bryant G. Garth. 1996. Dealing in Virtue: International Commercial Arbitration and the Construction of a Transnational Legal Order. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dore, Isaak I. 1986. Arbitration and Conciliation Under the UNCITRAL Rules: Atextual Analysis. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
Dypski, Michael Cornell. 2002. “An Examination of Investor-State Dispute Resolution under the MERCUSOR and NAFTA Regimes.” Law and Business Review of the Americas (Winter/Spring): 217–235.Google Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gosta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Federal Court of Canada. 2004. AG of Canada v S.D. Myers (January 13, 2004 Justice Kelen).
Free Trade Commission. 2001. Notes of Interpretation of Certain Chapter 11 Provisions, July 31, 2001. http://www.ustr.gov/regions/whemisphere/nafta-chapter11.PDF (February 1, 2004).
Fuchs, Doris A. 2004. “The Role of Business in Global Governance.” In New Rules for Global Markets: Public and Private Governance in the World Economy, ed. Stefan A. Schirm. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gastle, Charles M. 1995. “Policy Alternatives for Reform of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas: Dispute Settlement Mechanisms.” Law and Policy in International Business 26: 735–823.Google Scholar
Grande, Edgar and Louis W. Pauly, eds. 2005. Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-first Century. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Greven, Michael Th. 2005. “The Informalization of Transnational Governance: A Threat to Democratic Government.” In Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-First Century, eds. Edgar Grande and Louis W. Pauly. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Gritsch, Maria. 2005. “The Nation-state and economic globalization: soft geo-politics and increased state autonomy?” Review of International Political Economy 12(1) (February): 1–25.Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A. and David Soskice, eds. 2001. Varieties of capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Haufler, Virginia. 2000. “Private Sector International Regimes.” In Non-State Actors and Authority in the Global System, eds. Richard A. Higgott, Geoffrey R.D. Underhill and Andreas Bieler. London: Routledge.
Helleiner, Eric. 1996. “Post-Globalization: Is the Financial Liberalization Trend Likely To Be Reversed?” In States Against Markets: The Limits of Globalization, eds. Robert Boyer and Daniel Drache. London: Routledge.
Herbert Smith. 2004. “The Reviewability of NAFTA Arbitral Awards.” International Law Briefing. http://herbertsmithcom.site.securepod.com/uploads/HSpdfs/ENG%20-%20Pub%20Int%20Law%20Mar%2004%20v21.pdf.
Higgott, Richard A., Geoffrey R.D. Underhill and Andrea Bieler, eds. 2000. Non-State Actors and Authority in the Global System. London: Routledge.
Hilf, Meinhard and Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann, eds. 1993. National Constitutions and International Economic Law. Deventer: Kluwer.
Hirst, Paul and Grahame Thompson. 1996. “Globalization in Question: The International Economy and the Possibilities of Governance.” Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Jackson, John H. 1993. “National Constitutions, Transnational Economic Policy and International Law: Some Reflections.” In National Constitutions and International Economic Law, eds. Meinhard Hilf and Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann. Deventer: Kluwer.
Krasner, Stephen D. 1999. “Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy.” Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Macek, Alan. 2003. “The Standard of Review of Chapter 11 Arbitrations: Deference.” www.alanmacek.com/legal/Chapter11StandardOfReview.pdf (January 25, 2006).
Mann, Howard. 2003. “The Free Trade Commission Statements of October 7, 2003, on NAFTA Chapter 11: Never-Never Land or Real Progress?” International Institute for Sustainable Development, http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2003/trade_ftc_comment_oct03.pdf (February 1, 2004).
Mann, Howard. 2005. “The Final Decision in Methanex v. United States: Some New Wine in Some New Bottles.” http://www.iisd.org/ (January 25, 2005).
Matiation, Stefan. 2003. “Arbitration with Two Twists: Loewen v. United States and Free Trade Commission Intervention in Chapter 11 Disputes.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Economic Law 24(2): 451–507.Google Scholar
McBride, Stephen and Russell A. Williams. 2001. “Globalization, the Restructuring of Labour Markets and Policy Convergence: The OECD ‘Jobs Strategy.’” Global Social Policy 1(3): 281–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolke, Andreas. 2004. “Transnational Private Authority and Corporate Governance.” In New Rules for Global Markets: Public and Private Governance in the World Economy, ed. Stefan A. Schirm. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ohmae, Ken'ichi. 1990. The borderless world: power and strategy in the interlinked economy. New York: Harper Business.
Olasolo, Hector. 2002. “Have Public Interests Been Forgotten in NAFTA Chapter 11 Foreign Investor/Host State Arbitration? Some Conclusions from the Judgment of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on the Case of Mexico v. Metalclad.” Law and Business Review of the Americas 8(Winter/Spring): 189.Google Scholar
Ortiz Mena, Antonio. 2002. “Dispute Settlement Under NAFTA.” In NAFTA in the New Millennium, eds. Edward J. Chambers and Peter H. Smith. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Panitch, Leo. 2000. “The New Imperial State.” New Left Review 2(March–April): 5–17.Google Scholar
Pepper, Randy A. 1998. “Why Arbitrate? Ontario's Recent Experience with Commercial Arbitration.” Osgoode Hall Law Journal 36(4): 808–845.Google Scholar
Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. 1991. Constitutional Functions and Constitutional Problems of International Economic Law. Fribourg, Switzerland: University Press Fribourg.
Petersmann, Ernst-Ulrich. 1993. “National Constitutions and International Economic Law.” In National Constitutions and International Economic Law, eds. Meinhard Hilf and Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann. Deventer: Kluwer.
Porter, Tony. 2005. “The Private Production of Public Goods: Private and Public Norms in Global Governance.” In Complex Sovereignty: Reconstituting Political Authority in the Twenty-First Century, eds. Edgar Grande and Louis W. Pauly. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Raustiala, Kal. 2003. “Rethinking the Sovreignty Debate in International Economic Law.” Journal of International Economic Law 6(4): 841–878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reif, Linda C. 2002. “NAFTA, WTO, and FTAA: Choice of Forum in Dispute Resolu tion.” In NAFTA in the New Millenium, eds. Edward J. Chambers and Peter H. Smith. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.
Rieger, Elmar and Stephen Leibfried. 2003. Limits to Globalization: Welfare States and the World Economy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Sampliner, Gary H. 2003. “Arbitration of Expropriation Cases Under U.S. Investment Treaties—A Threat to Democracy or the Dog That Didn't Bark?” ICSID Review—Foreign Investment Law Journal 18: 1–43.Google Scholar
Schirm, Stefan A., ed. 2004. New Rules for Global Markets: Public and Private Governance in the World Economy. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shapren, Andrew J. 2003. “NAFTA Chapter 11: A Step Forward in International Trade Law or a Step Backward for Democracy?” Temple International and Comparative Law Journal 17(1): 323–350.Google Scholar
Staff, Marcia J. and Christine W. Lewis. 2003. “Arbitration Under NAFTA Chapter 11: Past, Present and Future.” Houston Journal of International Law 25(2): 301–340.Google Scholar
Swank, Duane. 2002. Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Teeple, Gary 2000. Globalization and the Decline of Social Reform Into the Twenty-First Century. Toronto: Garamond.
United Mexican States v. Metalclad Corporation 2001. BCSC 664.
VanDuzer, J. Anthony. 2002. “NAFTA Chapter 11 to Date: The Progress of a Work in Progress.” Paper presented at a conference on NAFTA Chapter 11, Centre for Trade Policy and Law (subsequently published in Whose Rights? The NAFTA Chapter 11 Debate, edited by Laura Ritchie Dawson, Ottawa: CTPL, 2002), http://www.carleton.ca/ctpl/ch11papers/vanduzer.htm (January 19, 2004).
Van Harten, Gus. 2005. “Private Authority and transnational governance: the contours of the international system of investor protection.” Review of International Political Economy 12(4) (October): 600–623.Google Scholar
Weiler, Todd. 2003. “NAFTA News Flash-Feldman Award Upheld.” (December 12, 2006).
Weiler, Todd. 2006. “Commission Statements,” http://www.naftaclaims.com/commission.htm (January 25, 2006).
Weiss, Linda. 1998. The Myth of the Powerless State: Governing the Economy in a Global Era. Cambridge: Polity.