Fair and equitable treatment (FET) originated from the Havana Charter of 1948 and the adoption of the FET standard accelerated in the late 1960s and in the 1970s when it was widely incorporated in bilateral investment treaties. By the end of 2009, 2,750 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have been concluded,[i] and the vast majority have incorporated FET together with other standards such as full protection and security, using very similar language, as a safeguard against violations by the host state.[ii] However, it was not until the early twenty-first century that FET was applied in investor-state arbitral jurisprudence,[iii] where claimants lodged claims and tribunals found host state liability based on FET.
Continue Reading Fair and Equitable Treatment – Should the Standard be Differentiated According to Level of Development, Government Capacity and Resources of Host Countries?