Organisers:
Asian Academy of International Law
AAIL Foundation
Individual Responsibility for State Breaches of Investment Law
This hybrid seminar examined a significant accountability gap in international investment law – while States may be held responsible for breaches of investment treaties, the individuals who orchestrate or knowingly contribute to those breaches generally face no corresponding liability.
Drawing on her recently published paper ‘Can Individuals be held Accountable for Orchestrating State Breaches of International Investment Law?’, Ms Olga Boltenko FCIArb, AAIL’s Research Fellow and Barrister at Prince’s Chambers, explored whether individual responsibility could operate alongside State responsibility within the framework of international investment law. She examined the legal foundations for such an approach, including principles of attribution, fault and dual responsibility, and considered insights drawn from international criminal law and historical scholarship.
Ms Boltenko also addressed the principal legal and practical challenges associated with establishing individual liability, particularly issues of consent, jurisdiction, immunity and enforcement. She outlined possible approaches under existing legal frameworks as well as potential directions for future reform. Emphasising that any system of personal accountability should be carefully circumscribed, she highlighted the importance of distinguishing deliberate, reckless or corrupt conduct from good-faith governmental decision-making, and of incorporating safeguards to prevent abusive claims and avoid chilling legitimate public policy measures. She further suggested that the development of codified Draft Articles on Individual Responsibility for Investment Law Breaches might ultimately be the more workable approach.
Moderated by Dr Anthony Neoh SC JP, Chairman of AAIL, the Q&A session sparked a lively discussion on the feasibility and implications of recognising individual responsibility alongside State responsibility as well as future research directions in this emerging area.
What attendees say
• It provides great insight into the evolving architecture of international economic law by exploring whether individual officials can face personal civil liability for investment treaty breaches.
• The seminar has a lot of information that are summarised very well.
• The speaker delivers her presentation clearly and stands firmly in her research proposal.
• I am able to gain a strong base understanding of the subject matter.
