International Law Limits to Investment Screening

The global rise in foreign investment screening signals a recalibration of the international economic order. The paper asks whether international economic law (IEL) still carries sufficient normative force to limit the ongoing ‘securitization’ of investment regulation. It challenges the assumption that treaty-based commitments, though formally valid, continue to operate as a reliable constraint on State discretion in screening practices. Drawing on other contributions to this Special Issue, the paper systematizes the obligations of IEL as they apply to investment screening and identifies overarching patterns through illustrative examples. It argues that IEL is straining to preserve internal coherence. The ‘securitization’ of foreign investment regulation is not only a political and economic phenomenon but reshapes the legal fabric of IEL itself. The existing framework sits increasingly uneasily with the broad discretion States claim in screening foreign investment.