Summary / Resumé
Andreas Fisahn: Free Trade and Investor Protection. Arbitration Courts for the Enforcement of the New Free Trade Law?
In international law, arbitration courts are not new. The serve within the domain of trade agreements to arbitrate between affected states. With the current treaties of the European Union with Canada and the the US they obtain a new quality: the shall guarantee the adherence to investor protection clauses and enable private investors the possibility to sue the countries affected. Protected are the „reasonable profi t expectations“ of the companies. The shall not be impeded by a changed social or environmental legislation of individual states. The author compares these regulations in great detail with those of other treaties. They are viewed against the protection of property granted by the German constitution and assessed within this legal system. The political assessment criticizes the weakening of democratic and institutional control over the distribution of economic commodities.