Traditional means of international dispute settlement have proved to be largely ineffective in ensuring the effectiveness of international environmental law. Thus, states are increasingly creating regime-specific systems to control, facilitate and assist the implementation of and compliance with each multilateral environmental agreement. By bringing together the perspectives of scholars, negotiators and practitioners, this book provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the most advanced of these systems, the so-called "non-compliance mechanisms", in which a specialized treaty body is entrusted with the task of examining cases of non-compliance by State parties. Included are descriptions of each mechanism and an analysis of cross-cutting issues. It also explains how these systems relate to relevant concepts and mechanisms of general international law and, for the first time, of European Union law. The book is a valuable source of information and recommended reading for academics, practitioners, civil servants, NGOs and all those interested in public international law, EC law and environmental law. Tullio Treves is a Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Professor of International Law at the University of Milan; Laura Pineschi is Professor of International Law at the University of Parma; Attila Tanzi is Professor of International Law at the University of Bologna and Chairperson of the Compliance Committee of the Protocol on Water and Health; Cesare Pitea is Aggregate Professor of International and European Law at the University of Parma; Chiara Ragni is a Senior Researcher in International Law at the University of Milan; and Francesca Romanin Jacur is a Post-doc Researcher in International Law at the University of Milan and Legal Adviser to the Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea in a project of the University of Siena.

The well-publicized contributions of civil society in setting items on the international agenda, in developing new international treaties, in exercising pressure on States in favour of or against the ratification of such treaties and in assisting the functioning of new institutions has attracted the attention of scholars who discuss the presence and the role of 'new actors' on the international stage. The role of civil society as regards international courts and tribunals, as well as compliance mechanisms set up especially in the environmental field, may be less well-known but is certainly no less important. This book explores this crucial area. The attempt is timely and particularly relevant because of the continuous increase in the number of international courts, tribunals and compliance mechanisms. The areas of human rights, international criminal law and international environmental law are the main focus of the study, in the light of the well-established role of NGOs in Human Rights Courts and UN bodies as well as in the light of their remarkable success in setting up the International Criminal Court and the promising avenues which are now open in the compliance bodies of environmental law conventions. Broader questions and bodies such as the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea as well as European courts and tribunals are also included. The experience of a multinational group of academic scholars, judges and registrars of international tribunals, and experts from Non-Governmental Organizations, who have contributed to the book, provide it with the necessary variety of approaches and points of view. This book is based on the results of a research project by the Universities of Milan, Brescia and Verona, supported by the Italian Ministry for University and Research, and by PICT, the London-New York Project on International Courts and Tribunals. Tullio Treves is a Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and a Professor of International Law at the State University of Milano. Marco Frigessi di Rattalma teaches International Law at the University of Brescia. Attila Tanzi teaches International Law at the University of Verona. Alessandro Fodella teaches International Human Rights Protection at the University of Trento. Cesare Pitea and Chiara Ragni are research assistants at the University of Milan.

Increasingly, transnational corporations, developed countries and private actors are broadening the boundaries of their investments into new territories, in search of a higher return on capital. This growth in direct foreign investment involves serious concerns for both the investor and host state. Various exponents of international civil society and non-governmental organisations persuasively claim that such growth in foreign investments constitutes potential and serious hazards both to the environment and the fundamental rights and freedoms of local populations. This book explores from an international law perspective the complex relationship between foreign investments and common concerns, i.e. values that do not coincide, or do not necessarily coincide, with the interests of the investor and of the host state. It pays particular attention to the role of the main international development banks in reconciling the needs of foreign investors with the protection of common concerns, such as the environment, human rights and labour rights. Among its collection of essays, the volume asks how much "regulatory space" investment law leaves; whether international investment law is an effective means of balancing contrasting interests, and whether investment arbitration currently constitutes a mechanism of global governance. In collecting the outlooks of various experts in human rights, environmental and international economic law, this book breaks new ground in exploring how attention to its legal aspects may help in navigating the relationship between foreign investment and common concerns. In doing so, the book provides valuable insights into the substantive issues and institutional aspects of international investment law.

Increasingly, transnational corporations, developed countries and private actors are broadening the boundaries of their investments into new territories, in search of a higher return on capital. This growth in direct foreign investment involves serious concerns for both the investor and host state. Various exponents of international civil society and non-governmental organisations persuasively claim that such growth in foreign investments constitutes potential and serious hazards both to the environment and the fundamental rights and freedoms of local populations. This book explores from an international law perspective the complex relationship between foreign investments and common concerns, i.e. values that do not coincide, or do not necessarily coincide, with the interests of the investor and of the host state. It pays particular attention to the role of the main international development banks in reconciling the needs of foreign investors with the protection of common concerns, such as the environment, human rights and labour rights. Among its collection of essays, the volume asks how much "regulatory space" investment law leaves; whether international investment law is an effective means of balancing contrasting interests, and whether investment arbitration currently constitutes a mechanism of global governance. In collecting the outlooks of various experts in human rights, environmental and international economic law, this book breaks new ground in exploring how attention to its legal aspects may help in navigating the relationship between foreign investment and common concerns. In doing so, the book provides valuable insights into the substantive issues and institutional aspects of international investment law.