BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

La relación de agua y ciudad es múltiple y no trata solo del clásico abastecimiento con agua potable, sino que hoy en día hay que considerar, igualmente, el saneamiento y la depuración de las aguas residuales así como, cada vez de forma más creciente, la reutilización de las aguas residuales una vez alcanzado un determinado nivel de calidad. Desde parámetros puramente económicos, la cuantía que representa hoy en día el negocio del agua supera claramente la de otras utilizaciones del agua y, al tiempo, es de una gran complejidad jurídica y organizativa, por el variado número de tasas, impuestos y personas jurídicas (públicas y privadas) que participan en esas actividades. El interés, por tanto, de un riguroso tratamiento de estas cuestiones no necesita justificación. Y ese es el objeto de este libro en el que participan académicos especializados de primera línea así como técnicos y expertos en la relación agua-ciudad. El volumen procede de la realización de las periódicas Jornadas de Derecho de Aguas que la Universidad de Zaragoza y la Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, organizan con carácter anual desde 1991.

The paper focuses on the evolution and regulation of public utility services, the impacts of investment arbitration decisions, and the gaps between the decisions of investment arbitration courts and legal and judicial solutions of domestic national systems of law. Furthermore, it points out the principles crucial to the sustainability of private provision of public utility services.

The paper focuses on the evolution and regulation of public utility services, the impacts of investment arbitration decisions, and the gaps between the decisions of investment arbitration courts and legal and judicial solutions of domestic national systems of law. Furthermore, it points out the principles crucial to the sustainability of private provision of public utility services.

Globalization has increased the volume of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in developing countries. It also has promoted “global constitutionalism,” a process involving the incorporation of international norms into constitutional principles developed at the national level. When conflicts arise between foreign investors and national governments then arbitration tribunals created under international investment agreements are often called upon by the private investor. The objectives of this chapter are to examine whether protection of investment agreements by international tribunals has had negative impacts on water and its services and what can be done to remediate any negative impacts of these agreements. The chapter finds that criteria and procedures used by these tribunals tend to simplify very complex situations, and are often contrary to local and national laws created through centuries of trial and error; and argues that arbitration tribunals should make greater use of principles of law accepted by civilized nations when dealing with cases related to international investment agreements. Otherwise, these courts risk reductionism and, in the long term, irrelevancy.