Abstract
The new Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law encourage transparency in the public interest, but the most valuable tool to achieve this overall goal will be the repository – a searchable electronic database of arbitral decisions – prescribed in Article 8 of the Rules. Article 8 breathes life into the other Articles by creating a space for access to the information that the Rules make public. In effect, the Rules will only be as successful as the repository is functional. This Chapter highlights key points in Article 8’s negotiating history. It concludes that the repository will precipitate an unexpected result: that lawyers will draw from the case law to a greater extent than at present to push the international arbitration regime toward a precedential system.