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This comprehensive two-volume work is a collection of determinations from OPIC, the US governmental political risk insurance provider, in the form of its Memoranda of Determinations from 1966 through to 2010.
An important part of international investment law and policy is the political risk insurance coverage provided to international investors by their home states and multilateral organizations such as the World Bank. These programs are of crucial importance to the growth of international investment flows and the development of international investment law. The insurance claim decisions and as a result this area of international law has received disproportionately little attention. This reference work is the first to make the underlying primary material available to the investment law, political risk and academic communities. The authors have made the claims determinations more accessible with the inclusion of headnote summaries for all determinations.
The determinations reflect the decisions of OPIC under US and international law and therefore have a significant impact on its future claims determinations. They reveal what types of claims have been honored for expropriation, political violence or convertibility/transferability restrictions. Users of political risk insurance worldwide will find this collection invaluable in understanding what events are and are not in fact covered, and deciding whether to obtain insurance coverage. These OPIC determinations will also contribute to the development of arbitral jurisprudence regarding government actions that are alleged to be in violation of investment protections found in investment treaties and investment law. They are additionally of interest in the context of the presentation and determination of future OPIC claims and decision making by other political risk insurance providers.
Review Quotes
1.
"OPIC's formal determinations are an important part of the jurisprudence of international investment law but until now they have been largely inaccessible. This series, with its clear organization and lucid commentaries, will be an indispensable tool for scholars and
practitioners."
--Professor W. Michael Reisman, Yale Law School
"Editors are to be complemented for their contribution to a better understanding of the most essential dynamic of investment insurance coverage-the determination of claims by the insurer, at one of the most important investment insurers in the global industry."
--Barry Metzger, Partner, Baker & McKenzie
"Kantor, Nolan and Sauvant have done us a service in pulling this information together in a coherent manner while leaving judgements to the reader or scholar. This compendium, coming at a time when there is greater use of and frustration with arbitration as a solution to
investment disputes should help enrich the dialog about the relevant issues of international law."
--Julie Martin, Marsh
"OPIC has the institutional experience of resources to engage with the relevant legal principles at a level of sophistication which is occasionally superior to that of some states. When presented by three co-editors of this eminence, these volumes are a publishing event of importance."
--Jan Paulsson, Freshfields Buckhaus Deringer
"This timely book is a comprehensive synthesis and review of OPIC political risk insurance claim decisions, which are a treasure trove of thoughtful analysis on inconvertibility, political violence, and expropriation issues. This is invaluable reference for the scholar and practitioner alike in understanding political risks and the tools available for international investors to deal with those risks."
--Frederick E. Jenney, Partner, Project Finance & Development Group, Morrison & Foerster LLP, Washington D.C.
"Offers valuable insight to political risk insurance options."
--Panayotis M. Protopsaltis, Dryllerakis & Associates, Transnational Dispute Management
