Along the path of datafication, the probability of cyberattacks against critical infrastructure increases as well. The weaponization of 5G networks has brought about further challenges to international economic legal order. Major geopolitical players have adopted comprehensive security measures at home and have also strengthened cooperation with geopolitical allies to protect and enhance the resilience of ICT ecosystems. In this regard, the more recent iterations of international trade agreements are equipped with “modernized” security exceptions to ensure that the exceptions to international trade rules are aligned with the policy needs of the data-driven economy. Innovative exception clauses have been incorporated into FTAs to reconcile conflicts between (digital) trade and (cyber) security, which, overall, grant a dramatically expansive scope and excessively unfettered discretion to states when it comes to “national security.” Questions as to what constitutes “critical infrastructure” and how it should be designated, however, require due process mechanisms to constrain discretionary abuse. Chapter 2 contends that a consensus concerning the scope of “critical infrastructure” would be politically and economically valuable to filter out overgeneralizations of national security claims.

Chapter 9 examines security exceptions known to many investment treaties. These clauses are designed to expand the host state's room to adopt certain measures in the pursuit of security interests without having to compensate foreign investors. While seeking to enhance legal security, security exceptions remain ambiguous and controversial in many respects. The chapter conducts a comprehensive study of relevant case law, not only of recent investor-state arbitrations but also of the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body. On this basis, it offers guidance on the interpretation of elements common to security exceptions as well as on the level of review to be conducted by investment tribunals. The chapter delineates the limits of state discretion and proposes that international humanitarian law should have an impact on the application of security exceptions in the context of military operations. In evaluating drafting options, the chapter further assesses the merits of including a security exception in investment treaties and makes suggestions as to their wording and function.

As a result of the multilateralisation of FDI operations, of the criticism formulated against international investment law and arbitration and of the evolution of States’ policies, limitations placed on the protection of foreign investors have spread and diversified over time in international investment agreements (IIAs). Chapter 7 focuses on these limitations as contained in IIAs concluded in the 2010s, as these IIAs incorporate both traditional limitations and the new limitations that have recently appeared in treaty practice. It provides an analysis of treaty limitations by distinguishing between them on the basis of their scope of application, meaning mainly whether they apply to IIAs as a whole or to specific provisions thereof.