Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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TOWARDS A PRESUMPTION OF

TRANSPARENCY IN INVESTMENT
ARBITRATION
Ruth Teitelbaum*

I. INTRODUCTION
The explosion of investment treaty arbitration over the past ten
years has coincided with three other dramatic developments that
continue to shape its path: (1) the growth, availability and
sophistication of the internet; (2) the rising power of nongovernmental
organizations (“NGOs”); and (3) a growing movement,
driven by NGOs, which questions the impact of free trade agreements
on the environment and sustainable development and the motives,
legitimacy and secrecy of international organizations such as the
World Bank.1
NGOs have turned their attention to investment treaty arbitration,
and in particular, those disputes administered by the International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) of the World
Bank Group. They have argued, successfully,2 that unlike commercial