XII Jurisdiction Ratione Temporis

Subject(s):

Conduct of proceedings — Time limitations (and jurisdiction) — Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

This chapter identifies the basic temporal rules and issues that arise in investment treaty cases. In international law, facts must be appreciated in light of the law contemporary with them, and not of the law in force at the time a dispute arises or falls to be settled. This non-retroactivity rule, which is codified in Article 13 of the International Law Commission Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts, does not prevent a tribunal from considering acts before a treaty entered into force when determining whether a state violated the treaty through conduct that took place after the entry into force of the treaty. Meanwhile, general international law does not necessarily prevent an investment treaty from applying a dispute that arises before its entry into force.