Currently, the legal protection of
Foreign Direct Investment under
public international law is guaranteed by a network of more than 2750
bilateral investment treaties (BITs), Multilateral Investment Treaties, most notably the
Energy Charter Treaty and number of Free Trade Agreements such as
NAFTA containing a chapter on investment protection. Most of these treaties were signed by states in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the current explosion of investor claims under the treaties began in the last 1990s.
The majority of these legal instruments provides foreign investors with a substantive legal protection (including the right to "fair and equitable treatment", "full protection and security", "free transfer of means" and the right not be directly or indirectly expropriated without full compensation) and
access to ISDS for redress against Host States for breaches of such protection.