Introduction

One of the most important pillars of investment protection under international law is the understanding that a foreign investor investing in a host state should be treated ‘fairly and equitably.’ The importance of this notion is supported by the inclusion of the fair and equitable treatment (FET) standard in most of the International Investment Agreements (IIAs), as well as its invocation in the vast majority of investment disputes. However, the concern has been expressed frequently that a broad interpretation of this usually openly formulated provision has an adverse impact on the host state’s ‘right to regulate’ in the public interest. These concerns have been voiced particularly as a result of FET claims in which investors have challenged a variety of state decisions in publicly sensitive areas, e.g. renewable energy, waste management, public health issues, and access to water. In this regard, tribunals have often been criticised for attaching insufficient weight in their assessment of the FET standard to a host state’s right to regulate and its duty to fulfil its obligations under other international treaties, such as human rights and environmental treaties.More...

Editor’s note: Shamistha Selvaratnam is a LLM Candidate of the Advanced Masters of European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Prior to commencing the LLM, she worked as a business and human rights solicitor in Australia where she specialised in promoting business respect for human rights through engagement with policy, law and practice.

From 15 to 19 October 2018, the fourth session of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights took place in Geneva. 92 UN States participated in the session along with a range of stakeholders, including intergovernmental organisations, business organisations, special procedures of the Human Rights Council and national human rights institutions. The focus of the session was on the zero draft of the proposed binding business and human rights treaty (from herein referred to as the ‘treaty’).

This blog sets out the key views and suggestions made by those in attendance with respect to the treaty during the session.[1] Issues and areas of concern raised at the session generally aligned with the critiques raised by commentators on the first draft of the treaty (which are set out in a previous blog). More...