8 - Fair and Equitable Treatment

Summary

Chapter 8 concludes the analysis of the most important substantive investment treaty clauses by examining the fair and equitable treatment standard. It argues that armed conflict does not put into question certain guarantees of fair decision-making and adjudication, whereas it proposes a balanced relativisation of the protection of investor expectations in the context of armed conflict. The determination of whether treatment is fair and equitable can only be made in the light of the individual circumstances of conflict. When balancing the interests of investors in a stable regulatory framework against the state’s regulatory interests, the urgency and severity of these public interests in armed conflict should be accorded particular weight. Under the proposed reading, the fair and equitable treatment standard is flexible enough to consider the circumstances of an armed conflict in a balanced and nuanced way. Well aware of existing controversies and opposing lines of jurisprudence, the chapter suggests ways to embrace the standard’s flexible nature and counteract tendencies in arbitral practice that arguably overemphasise investor interests.