Defense or cooperation between states and international investors in times of crisis?

International investment is protected by international law by setting the standards of legal treatment that host state governments have committed themselves to in their investment treaties. Therefore, these standards of protection must be respected even in times of crisis, regardless of the reason that generated it, the policy of attracting and maintaining an investment climate favorable to international investment being an attribute of each state. If he does not find adequate protection or if he cannot negotiate contracts adapted to these conditions, nothing can prevent an investor from changing the direction of his business, in order to protect the investment made. On the other side of the barricade, the states raise the shields of force majeure and necessity. Of course, it is preferable for the barricade to turn into a round table of cooperation. The issue of violating one or more standards by states is one of the most debated at the moment, as international arbitration practice has decisions that oblige states to significant compensation. In my study I used as a research method the interdependent introspection, analysis and synthesis through analogies developed in a comparative method

International investment protection in front of the states role in crisis times to managing disputes

International investment law has regulatory features, especially in the area of international investment protection and dispute settlement, in the violation case of these rights. Any force majeure situation or fortuitous event (pandemic and the economic crisis generated by it) represents, in this field, an escalation of situations with conflict impact, for the solution of which the main actors must adapt their capacity and regulations. In this context, a higher risk of disputes must be taken into account. Although many governments are trying to find a balance between protecting public health and economic interests, the pandemic creates unprecedented risks for foreign investors around the world, the effects of which will be visible in the coming years. The competent courts are beginning to have an extremely difficult task of analysis and deliberation, which will oscillate between recognizing and respecting the exercise of significant discretionary state power in response to public health problems and between sovereign measures taken by states in response to pandemics or in other similar cases, measures which may violate the protection of foreign investment contained in international investment agreements, if they are discriminatory or disproportionate. To conduct this study we used recognized descriptive, explanatory and predictive research methods, specific to the criteria imposed by international investments, such as: (1) the temporal criterion, (2) the reactivity criterion and (3) the intrinsic characteristics of the method

About the Human Rights and Consumer Protection in the Digital Age of Digital Services Act 2022 or What Aspects Interested Investors Should Pay Attention To

The EU Digital Services Act followed by the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade 2023/C 23/01/PUB/2023/89 delivered the latest updates marked by some specific principles, rights and obligations. It enshrines the principle that what is illegal offline must also be illegal online. Political agreement on this regulation was reached on 23 April 2022 between the European Parliament and EU Member States, and the final text of the document was published on 27 October 2022, with the DSA entering into force in November 2022, and the provisions applying mainly from 17 February 2024 (Article 93). For this article we used a research method directly connected to the current of constructivism in the evolution and propagation of international norms. The importance of understanding reality consists in the empirical approach based on the collection and analysis of relevant data to reach conclusions and generalizations based on objective and verifiable evidence based on primary and secondary sources

The EU-China road to the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

For about ten years, both the European Union and China have decided to embark on a "not easy" road to reach an investment agreement. So, two different cultures, two international powers, set out to regulate the main aspects of the investment mechanism between them. The road to this agreement is perhaps the most difficult in the recent history of the field, largely because of the narrow loopholes through which the negotiating parties must pass. The only good path for the parties on this road is the public international law governing the treaties, while foreign policies should retain their position as auxiliaries with a limited role. This article aims to analyse the legal aspects of the procedure required by such a treaty, taking into account its particularities. The method used for the elaboration of this study is specific to differentiated comparison and introspection

Individualization and development of international investment law as the third millennium law field

Approaching such a subject is undoubtedly of particular scientific interest, contributing to the clarification of several aspects regarding the content and delimitation of international investment law, with an emphasis on the law and doctrine of international law, but also on the jurisprudence of international courts. The originality and scientific innovation resides in the way of approaching the research of the legal regime of foreign investments, both from the point of view of interdisciplinarity, interference and interconnections between the fields of incident law, as well as by identifying a coagulating, unifying factor – the international justice and the mechanisms that are put into operation. This approach calls for the creation of a learning mechanism, of study within the university framework of the discipline of International Investment Law and the deepening of the specific notions and problems within some master programs

Natural and Artificial Superwettable Surfaces-Superficial Phenomena: An Extreme Wettability Scenario

With the help of biomimetics, superficial characteristics were transposed, through various methods, onto artificially obtained materials. Many industrial fields applied surface architecture modifications as improvements of classic materials/methods. The medico-pharmaceutical, biochemical, transportation, and textile fields are few examples of industrial areas welcoming a “structural change.” Anti-bioadhesion was widely exploited by means of antibacterial or self-cleaning fabrics and cell culturing/screening/isolation. Anti-icing, antireflective, and anticorrosion materials/coatings gained attention in the transportation and optical device fields. Interdisciplinary approaches on extreme wettability include “solid-fluid” formations called liquid marbles, which will be further discussed as a superhydrophobic behavior exponent