From regulatory chill to deepfreeze?

Zarsky, Lyuba

doi:10.1007/s10784-006-9023-1

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The significance of corporate influence was another common theme, as threats of both loss of investment and arbitration were considered important factors in the Ghanaian (Mander and Perkins, ; Zarsky, ) and Indonesian (Gross, ) cases. Gross (, p. 960) remarked that ‘at the end of the day investor decisions are based upon business considerations, and the decision to threaten arbitration is no different.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, the need to consider political and economic factors was noted, including the government capacity and desire to act, the political and economic power of the sector being regulated, the level of risk aversion within the state body, and political actor ideological commitment to neoliberal policies or desire to hide behind foreign actors and ISDS threats to pass unpopular domestic policies (Bagwell and Staiger ; Van Harten and Scott, ; Zarsky, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, it is unlikely that this assessment of a threat directly translates into a policy response, but rather would be moderated by a set of political and economic factors. A number of factors were raised in the review, which have been reflected in the framework Bagwell and Staiger ; Zarsky, ). Enhanced financial and political resources within a state may reduce the possibility of a regulatory chill response; while greater economic power of the sector implicated by the public policy measures within the state or an increased level of risk aversion among decision‐makers may increase such a possibility.…”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Internalisation of International Investment Agreements in Public Policymaking: Developing a Conceptual Framework of Regulatory Chill

et al. 2018

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The growing number of public policy measures challenged through investor-state dispute settlement has raised critiques that international investment agreements could lead governments to avoid introducing new policy measures out of a fear that these could be challenged by foreign investors, often referred to as 'regulatory chill'. While the body of work on regulatory chill is still in its infancy, there is a need to interrogate extant studies to better understand the state of the knowledge and the methodological approaches being employed to produce an evidence base. Grounded in a critical review of the existing literature, this paper develops a conceptual framework of regulatory chill, identifying it as one possible policy response wherein investment agreements are internalised by policy makers as considerations during their policy decision-making. Three distinct bodies of work were identified in the literature which helped to populate this framework, including analysis of investment treaty language and awards, interviews with policy makers to explore internalisation of such treaties, and case studies of suspected regulatory chill policy responses. The conceptual framework is intended to help drive forward a cohesive research agenda on regulatory chill that can underpin the ongoing investment treaty reform. Policy Implications• Threats of international investment arbitration by powerful companies can be effective in guiding a state's regulatory behaviour.• Regulatory chill is a relevant consideration for all public policy areas, not just within environmental regulation where the concept has originated and developed.• Policy responses to a perceived threat of arbitration are mediated by political and economic factors including political will and financial capacity of the state.• Improving policy maker knowledge of the obligations produced by international investment agreements and existing case law may reduce the chance of regulatory chill responses.Global Policy (2018) 9:2

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Internalisation of International Investment Agreements in Public Policymaking: Developing a Conceptual Framework of Regulatory Chill

et al. 2018

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“…However, there is the potential for investment agreements to take on broader policy initiatives aimed at sustainable development. 116 If investors are really only concerned with the predictability of legislation, and not with the strictness of it, then they could conceivably agree to stabilize their environmental commitments at a higher standard (for example, international best practice) from the beginning of the contract. Governments could also attach comprehensive environmental management plans to state contracts, outlining the measures that the government intends to pursue in a given period of time, thus allowing investors to plan and assess their costs and risks for at least this period.…”

Section: The Impact Of Stability On Environmental Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Unilateral Commitments to Investment Protection: Does the Promise of Stability Restrict Environmental Policy Development?

Tienhaara

2006

Yearbook of International Environmental Law

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In recent years, interest in the relationship between investment law and environmental law has increased signi cantly. 1 This interest has been focused largely on three fora: (1) disputes that have taken place within the context of Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); 2 (2) the failed negotiations for a Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic The author would like to thank the editors of this volume as well as M. Sornarajah, Thijs Etty, and Harro van Asselt for their insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this article.

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“…There has also been some suggestion from the middle-ground thinkers that policy actions, even in the absence of widely agreed evidence that pollution havens exist, would be beneficial, and could be acceptable from both sides of this debate (Neumayer, 2001). What matters is that states act in certain ways based on the belief that they may lose investment if they impose stricter standards (Porter, 1999;Zarsky, 2006). A regulatory chill refers to situations where states fail to raise environmental standards for fear of losing investment and weakening trade competitiveness.…”

Section: Environmental Standards and Transnational Investmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

International Political Economy and the Environment

Clapp¹

Advances in International Environmental Politics

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From regulatory chill to deepfreeze?

Cited by 7 publications

References 2 publications

Internalisation of International Investment Agreements in Public Policymaking: Developing a Conceptual Framework of Regulatory Chill

Internalisation of International Investment Agreements in Public Policymaking: Developing a Conceptual Framework of Regulatory Chill

Unilateral Commitments to Investment Protection: Does the Promise of Stability Restrict Environmental Policy Development?

International Political Economy and the Environment

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