ALÌ, A. / FACCIO, S. / PERTILE, M.
"At the dawn of the most serious and challenging global health emergency of contemporary times, the investment regime, with its Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, was already facing its own 'crisis'. In 2019, the number of treaty terminations were exceeding the number of new treaties entering into force, with the Energy Charter Treaty experiencing a veritable exodus. The ISDS was undergoing a reform, which aimed to dismantle the system based on ad hoc arbitration in favour of a multilateral court. States began to enact laws to review FDI in strategic sectors, concerned that foreign investors could undermine national security. Some commentators argued that the investment regime, and ISDS in particular, was 'shrinking', or even 'dead'. Despite this, three years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) a public health emergency of international concern, the number of ISDS claims has continued to rise, even though only a few of them relate to measures taken by states during the pandemic.
