ABSTRACT
The criticism of international investment law and arbitration, inter alia, sees states' regulatory freedom as being unfairly restricted by a legal system that allegedly overemphasises investment protection at the expense of public policy interests. This chapter presents a comprehensive survey of recent international investment agreements (IIAs). It focuses on a key element of World Trade Organisation (WTO)-like exceptions, namely the 'necessary' nexus requirement between the measure in question and that measure's purpose. Fifty-four of the security clauses are replicas of the WTO model. These 'WTO-like' clauses are in part or in whole virtually identical with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)/General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) provision with only minor adjustments. When looking more closely at the design of security clauses, three details are worth comparing, namely the specific cases covered, the nexus requirement, and the level of review that is to be conducted by arbitrators.
