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Sovereign Policy Flexibility For Social Protection: Managing Regulatory Risk In International Investment Agreements, Dr. Diane A. Desierto

Dr. Diane A Desierto

This Article focuses on the design of regulatory risk in international investment agreements (IIAs), and its counterpart treatment in investment arbitral practices. It demonstrates that the uneven conception and treatment of regulatory risk in investment arbitrations stands to threaten the basic premise of regulatory predictability in IIA design. IIAs do not intend to entrench static or hermetically sealed regulatory frameworks, but rather, are designed to enable States Parties to the IIA as well as investors (as third-party beneficiaries of the IIA), to mutually, fairly, and transparently predict and estimate the economic returns and risks of investment. Thus, while the substantive …