This book moves from the circumstance whereby currently the obligation to provide fair and equitable treatment (FET) to foreign investments is included in the majority of international investment agreements and has proved to be the most invoked standard in investor-State arbitration. Hence, it is no overstatement to describe this standard as the basic norm of international investment law. Yet both its meaning and normative basis continue to be shrouded in ambiguity and, as a consequence, to inspire a considerable number of interpretations by legal writers. The book’s precise aim is to unravel such ambiguity, arguing from the idea that FET has become part of the fabric of general international law, but has done so by means of a source somewhat neglected in legal doctrine. This being the category of general principles peculiar to a certain field of international law, i.e. those principles having their own foundations in the international legal order itself, but which, through the mediation of the judge, end up being shaped according to the features typical of a specific normative field. The book, as well as having a solid theoretical backdrop as its basis, offers a careful and critical analysis of pertinent case law, and will prove useful to both scholars and practitioners. Fulvio Maria Palombino is Professor of International Law at the Law Department of the University of Naples Federico II and a member of the Executive Board of the European Society of International Law.

This text analyses the conventional and customary framework of the fair and equitable treatment clauses commonly found in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and charts how these clauses have become norms of customary international law.

By comprehensively investigating the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard (FET), this discerning book presents how this standard in investment treaty disputes can be both legally justified and realistically beneficial. It reflects on how FET jurisprudence can be advantageous to both the rule of law and to the legitimacy of the international investment regime.

This book outlines the principles behind the international law of foreign investment. The main focus is on the law governed by bilateral and multilateral investment treaties. It traces the purpose, context, and evolution of the clauses and provisions characteristic of contemporary investment treaties, and analyses the case law, interpreting the issues raised by standard clauses. Particular consideration is given to broad treaty-rules whose understanding in practice has mainly been shaped by their interpretation and application by international tribunals. In addition, the book introduces the dispute settlement mechanisms for enforcing investment law, outlining the operation of Investor-State arbitration. Combining a systematic analytical study of the texts and principles underlying investment law with a jurisprudential analysis of the case law arising in international tribunals, this book offers an ideal introduction to the principles of international investment law and arbitration, for students, scholars, and practitioners alike.

This book outlines the protection standards typically contained in international investment agreements as they are actually applied and interpreted by investment tribunals. It thus provides a basis for analysis, criticism, and stocktaking of the existing system of investment arbitration. It covers all main protection standards, such as expropriation, fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, the non-discrimination standards of national treatment and MFN, the prohibition of unreasonable and discriminatory measures, umbrella clauses and transfer guarantees. These standards are covered in separate chapters providing an overview of textual variations, explaining the origin of the standards and analysing the main conceptual issues as developed by investment tribunals. Relevant cases with quotations that illustrate how tribunals have relied upon the standards are presented in depth. An extensive bibliography guides the reader to more specific aspects of each investment standard permitting the book's use as a commentary of the main investment protection standards.

This book provides a comprehensive study of the standard of ‘full protection and security’ (FPS) in international investment law. Ever since the Germany-Pakistan BIT of 1959, almost every investment agreement has included an FPS clause. FPS claims refer to the most diverse factual settings, from terrorist attacks to measures concerning concession contracts. Still, the FPS standard has received far less scholarly attention than other obligations under international investment law. Filling that gap, this study examines the evolution of FPS from its medieval roots to the modern age, delimits the scope of FPS in customary international law, and analyzes the relationship between FPS and the concept of due diligence in the law of state responsibility. It additionally explores the interpretation and application of FPS clauses, drawing particular attention to the diverse wording used in investment treaties, the role ascribed to custom, and the interplay between FPS and other treaty-based standards. Besides delivering a detailed analysis of the FPS standard, this book also serves as a guide to the relevant sources, providing an overview of numerous legal instruments, examples of state practice, arbitral decisions, and related academic publications about the standard.

"In recent years, the concept of fair and equitable treatment has assumed prominence in investment relations between States. While the earliest proposals that made reference to this standard of treatment for investment are contained in various multilateral efforts in the period immediately following World War II, the bulk of the State practice incorporating the standard is to be found in bilateral investment treaties which have become a central feature in international investment relations. In essence, the fair and equitable standard provides a yardstick by which relations between foreign direct investors and Governments of capital-importing countries may be assessed. It also acts as a signal from capital-importing countries, for it indicates, at the very least, a State's willingness to accommodate foreign capital on terms that take into account the interests of the investor in fairness and equity."--Provided by publisher.