Recent Approaches of the Republic of Ecuador to International Investment Law

Following more than two decades of unprecedented expansion, the legal regime on the protection of foreign investments has more recently become again increasingly controversially debated. There are clear indications in state practice, that an increasing number of countries assume a more cautious or even openly critical position on the current predominant approach in international investment law. This applies also to the recently renewed suspicion displayed by many Latin American countries in this regard. Among the Latin American countries, it is in particular also Ecuador, which has in recent years emerged as one of the main opponents of the current state of international investment law in general and international investment arbitration in particular. Ecuador not only adopted an increasingly critical stance on this issue but has also in contrast to many other Latin American countries in fact already employed a variety of measures in the domestic and international realm that clearly signal this state s intention to exit the present system and to establish a new alternative scheme of international investment protection.