Abstract

International investment agreements (IIAs) are at the heart of international investment law which aims at protecting contracting parties' prospective investors and the investments. The earlier IIAs (known as first generation IIAs) are embroiled with the criticism that host states' policy space for public purposes including environmental concerns has been considerably restricted under these IIAs, particularly, through the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) threats which may require the host states to pay foreign investors large amount of compensation for violation of treaty ...