The Interaction between Administrative Courts and Investment Tribunals in Egypt

Abstract Investment arbitration has increasingly become one of the primary methods for the settlement of legal disputes between foreign investors and sovereign States. International investment agreements provide foreign investors with direct legal recourse to international arbitration against host States’ adverse actions. However, on the national level, administrative courts may also have jurisdiction to exercise judicial review over the same challenged government actions. The adjudication of the same measures on both levels often leads to an inevitable interaction between investment tribunals and administrative courts. This article examines the interaction between the courts of Majlis al-Dawla in Egypt and international arbitral tribunals and attempts to highlight the points of their collaboration and mutual reliance. The analysis of the interaction shows that the risk of investment tribunals exercising de facto appellate review over domestic courts’ decisions is minimal, not least because both institutions adjudicate disputes under different and distinct legal bases.