On Monday, 22 January 2024, Vienna hosted the first United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III session of 2024 on the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform. The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) and KNOETZL provided a forum for the discussion of the topic of damages and, particularly, of Draft Provision 23: Assessment of damages and compensation and Draft Provision 10: Shareholder claims.

Leading investment arbitration scholars, practitioners, observers and state representatives were welcomed by Anna Joubin-Bret (UNCITRAL) and Patrizia Netal (KNOETZL), before diving into the discussion. Our stellar panel of speakers, James Castello (King & Spalding), Alexander Demuth (Secretariat), Florian Haugeneder (KNOETZL), Prof. Dr. Irmgard Marboe (University of Vienna), Peri Mikayelyan (Government of Armenia), and Tom Sikora (ExxonMobil) addressed, under the skilful moderation of Prof. Dr Crina Baltag, the rationales underlying the draft provisions and provided the audience with practical insights and views from the States, foreign investors, and international law experts involved in ISDS proceedings. A particular focus of the discussion was the principle of full reparation, the merits and limitations of the discounted cash flow method (DCF) as a method for the valuation of investments, as well as the role of shareholders and the contribution of valuation experts to the resolution of investment disputes.

We would like to thank everyone for their attendance and the contribution to the fruitful discussions. We look forward to welcoming you again during the next WG III in September.