LA CONVENZIONE UNESCO SUL PATRIMONIO DELL'UMANITÀ NELLA GIURISPRUDENZA ARBITRALE INTERNAZIONALE SUGLI INVESTIMENTI

Ratified by 194 countries, the World Heritage Convention (WHC) is one of the best-known treaty instruments in general culture. Having a significant impact on local realities, the WHC is a central element of international cultural heritage law, the development of which has been prodigious over the last 50 years. Increasingly the object of interpretation in national and international judgments, the 1972 UNESCO Convention also serves as a benchmark in international investment arbitration. This paper analyses the evolutionary path of arbitral awards that have considered the 1972 Convention, and it assesses the growing relevance, in international investment law (IIL), of the protection of UNESCO cultural and natural heritage. Furthermore, the paper shows that, in order to be able to invoke IIL protection, investors have to be responsible, and thus familiar with the international and domestic legal framework for the preservation and management of sites falling within the scope of the WHC. In fact, the fulfillment of such a duty of due diligence allows an investor to know the implications that the presence of cultural and natural assets has for the conduct of his/her business activities.