| Commercial undertakings to arbitrate and arbitral awards are commonly recognized and enforced in both Canada and the United States. Chapter Eleven of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Investor-State Arbitration, now gives new meaning to the established arbitral regime. For the first time in any trade pact in the world to date, the NAFTA provides a mechanism by which a private investor may submit a claim against NAFTA Party government to dispute resolution through "binding" arbitration. This system not only established an innovative solution to a bureaucratic quandary by raising the investor onto a level playing field with a government, but reaffirms the validity of commercial arbitration and demonstrates its adaptability to a changing political and economic environment. Investor-State "binding" arbitration is the only form of dispute resolution in existence which responds faster to the needs of North American investors than the courts or legislature. The influence of national laws and the jurisprudence of countries party to the NAFTA on the arbitral decision-making process not only will facilitate trade across North American borders, but will create a new body of transnational legal norms. |
