5 Protection of the Investor’s Legitimate Expectations: Intersection of a Treaty Obligation and a General Principle of Law

Abstract

This chapter submits that a general principle of law constitutes a sound legal basis of the obligation to protect the investor's legitimate expectations. For this purpose, it carries out a survey of arbitral decisions that have referred to the obligation to protect the investor's legitimate expectations and then examines domestic legal systems to see whether it is possible to find a general principle of law to this effect. Arbitral tribunals have come to consider that the protection of the investor's legitimate expectations constitute a part of the fair and equitable treatment (FET) obligation. The arbitral decisions allow to classify the circumstances under which arbitral tribunals consider that the investor's expectations are legitimate. The first arbitral decision in which the tribunal found that the investor's expectations are protected by international law is SPP v. Egypt , brought to arbitration on the basis of a domestic legislation of the host State. Keywords: Arbitral tribunals; fair and equitable treatment (FET); general principle of law; investor's legitimate expectations