For a second year in a row, the American Society of International Law had to convene an all virtual annual meeting because the COVID-19 pandemic made international travel and gathering in cavernous ballrooms impossible. I had the pleasure of chairing a pre-recorded panel on the rise of restrictions on data flows and digital technologies, which featured a stellar cast of experts distributed across three continents and time zones. This panel depended on the digital infrastructure provided by a private videoconferencing company on top of the public infrastructure of interconnectivity that the internet has supplied for more than three decades. As the pandemic forced people around the world into lockdowns—albeit asynchronously and unevenly—it further mainstreamed the use of communications platforms for everyday interactions, whether public or private, whether for business or leisure.

The rule of law and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are mutually supportive. Respect for the rule of law is indeed crucial for development issues. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development itself acknowledges, through SDG 16, that access to justice and the rule of law foster sustainable development. The latter ensures that all individuals are treated alike, that they are entitled to the respect of human rights and that the rule of law informs the satisfaction of social, economic, and cultural needs as well as the development of public policies and the governance of competent institutions.

The classical approach to investment protection is that states have obligations and investors have rights. However, there are emerging trends in favor of a rebalancing of rights and obligations of states and investors. In the context of this recalibrated approach, more attention is given to the definition of substantive provisions, such as the fair and equitable treatment standard. There is also a move from investor protection to investor responsibilization. This emerging responsibilization trend can be observed, for example, in recent treaties negotiated on the African continent, and it is also making a foray into customary international law.