Finality and Annulment in Investment Arbitration: Grounds, Procedure, Consequences

The article examines the principle of finality in investment arbitration and the legal nature of its exceptional limitations through mechanisms for challenging arbitral awards, in particular annulment. It analyses the grounds, procedure, and legal consequences of review mechanisms in investment disputes and compares the autonomous annulment regime under the ICSID system with the national-court set-aside model applicable outside ICSID. Particular attention is paid to the permissible scope of intervention in the arbitral outcome, the relationship between procedural guarantees and legal certainty, and the relevance of doctrinal approaches to distinguishing public and private elements when assessing the admissibility and intensity of control. The article concludes on the role of annulment in safeguarding the legitimacy of arbitral proceedings and the stability of the cross-border recognition and enforcement framework, while preserving the prohibition of review on the merits.