Pourquoi faut-il réformer les traités d’investissement et le règlement des différends entre investisseurs et États ? Questions - réponses

This guide by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the role of investment treaties and Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms in global governance. It argues that traditional treaties, designed to protect foreign investors and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), often conflict with sustainable development goals by creating 'regulatory chill' and imposing high financial costs on host states. The document advocates for an ambitious reform of investment law to prioritize public interest, environmental protection, and human rights over investor protections.

• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) does not automatically lead to sustainable development; it can produce negative outcomes such as environmental degradation, labor exploitation, tax evasion, corruption, and the displacement of local communities and businesses.
• Investment treaties have largely failed to achieve their primary stated goal of attracting more FDI, particularly for developing countries, and instead have exposed states to significant legal and financial liabilities.
• The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism is criticized for being costly, unpredictable, and creating a 'regulatory chill' where states avoid necessary public interest reforms to avoid expensive litigation.
• ISDS awards are increasing in scale and can significantly hinder the energy transition by protecting fossil fuel investments or making the revocation of outdated renewable energy subsidies prohibitively expensive.
• A specialized 'arbitration industry' consisting of lawyers, arbitrators, and third-party funders benefits financially from the current ISDS system regardless of the case outcome, creating a group that opposes reform.
• Current reform efforts include renegotiating treaties, adopting new models focused on cooperation and facilitation (such as those used by Brazil and India), introducing sector-specific exclusions, or unilaterally terminating treaties.
• The IISD calls for an ambitious, proactive reform that moves beyond 'piecemeal' changes to ISDS and instead fundamentally re-evaluates the objectives of investment treaties to align them with human rights, climate action, and environmental protection.

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (n.d.). Pourquoi faut-il réformer les traités d’investissement et le règlement des différends entre investisseurs et États ? Questions - réponses. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-04/investment-treaty-and-isds-reform-questions-answers-fr.pdf

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Pourquoi faut-il réformer les traités d’investissement et le règlement des différends entre investisseurs et États ? Questions - réponses. n.d. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-04/investment-treaty-and-isds-reform-questions-answers-fr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Pourquoi faut-il réformer les traités d’investissement et le règlement des différends entre investisseurs et États ? Questions - réponses |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-04/investment-treaty-and-isds-reform-questions-answers-fr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopmentndpourquoi, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Pourquoi faut-il réformer les traités d’investissement et le règlement des différends entre investisseurs et États ? Questions - réponses}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-04/investment-treaty-and-isds-reform-questions-answers-fr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }