BSF attorneys David Hunt, Ben Love, and Gina Rossman have co-authored a chapter in the Global Arbitration Review’s Guide to Telecoms Arbitrations. This chapter, titled “Is the People’s Good the Highest Law? The Concept of Necessity in Investor-State Protections,” focuses on the tension between globalization and national security concerns, as seen in investment claims brought by Huawei in response to numerous countries banning the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks.
As described in its opening paragraphs, the chapter examines “the customary international law defence of necessity (the necessity defence), under which states may defend their actions on the basis that they are necessary to safeguard an essential interest. It also considers the relationship of that rule of customary international law with specific treaty provisions permitting states to take measures to protect their ‘essential security interests’ (ESI clauses).”