The European Parliament's trade committee is having a fascinating discussion right now on ISDS: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20150921-1500-COMMITTEE-INTA I'm watching live; hopefully an archived version will be available later.
Someone raised a point about the "right to regulate" provision, Article 2.1, which I mentioned here. It states:
The provisions of this section shall not affect the right of the Parties to regulate within their territories through measures necessary to achieve legitimate policy objectives, such as the protection of public health, safety, environment or public morals, social or consumer protection or promotion and protection of cultural diversity.
I'm really lost about how this provision would operate. How exactly would it be invoked? Let's say you are a government facing a fair and equitable treatment claim. Would you invoke Article 2.1 as part of the interpretation of the FET provision? Or would the argument be something like one based on an exception? I'm very confused about what the drafters have in mind here.
