Analysis On The Legal Character Of The Independent Accountability Mechanisms Of The International Financial Institutions

This article is making effort to construct a complete legal framework for the Independent Accountability Mechanisms (hereinafter referred to as "IAMs") of International Financial Institutions (hereinafter referred to as "IFIs") by means of analyzing its establishment background and the basic elements as well as comparing the IAMs with the legal system of the responsibilities of International Organization (hereinafter referred to as "IO") and the accountability mechanism under the context of administrative law within a sovereign state.Chapter one introduces the background of the founding of the IAMs of IFIs. The establishment of this kind of accountability mechanism is on the basis of the governance dilemma confronting the IFIs and with the support of the emergence of the concept of Global Governance and the global civil society in public political field together with the development of the theory in international organization law and the diversity of dispute resolution patterns in both internal and international areas in the science of law at the same time.Chapter two presents the general situation of the IAMs of IFIs. In this chapter, the author chooses and introduces the IAMs in three IFIs, the inspection panel in World Bank Group, the dual function of problem solving and compliance review of IAM in Asian Development Bank, the internal and external accountability mechanism in European Investment Bank. In the second segment of this chapter, the author extracts six important elements of the IAMs which constitute the foundation for the further analysis of the legal character embodied in IAMs.Chapter three is the focus of this article. In this chapter, the author elaborates the legal character of the IAMs. The author holds the view that the theoretical basis of IAMs is the responsibility of IOs, the procedure of the IAMs is the analog of the accountability mechanism in the context of administrative law within a sovereign state, the function of the IAMs is similar with alternative dispute resolution.First, the author analyzes the accountability of IFIs. The constitution of responsibility in IAMs conforms to the situation of IO responsibility stipulated in the draft articles on the responsibility of IOs published by the international law committee of UN. One noteworthy fact is that IAMs do not belong to judicial review, which excludes it from the methods to undertake responsibility specified in the draft articles. In turn, IAMs innovate and expand the traditional ways for undertaking responsibility and accountability.Then, the author analyzes the legal relations between the accountability of IFIs and the public’s right to account. The accountability mechanism in the context of administrative law within a sovereign state provides a reference for the IAMs of IFIs. In the view of global administration theory,IO, bearing an increasingly bureaucratic character, has formed a special set of legal system and turned into a transnational administrative subject. Thus, the norms in administrative law can fully apply to the restraint for the power exercised by international organizations.At last, the author analyzes the special function and effects of IAMs. IFIs develop a new kind of accountability mechanisms in response with its governance demands. The IAMs is a remarkable breakthrough in comparison with the traditional accountability mechanisms for the bodies under the international law. However, IAMs is a weak procedural system in lack of rigid enforcement. Like the international soft law in substantive rules, the IAMs exhibit a soft effect that the solution it finally brings has no binding force on the IFIs.The final part is a brief conclusion of this article. The author points that the creation of IAMs represented a significant change in international law. The IAMs was built on the background of global governance. The complexity of global governance determines that we should value the institutional and theoretical innovation in the development of the accountability system of international organization.