Expropriation & Nationalisation

Direct expropriation involves formal seizure of assets by the host state. Indirect or creeping expropriation occurs when a series of regulatory measures, taken together, substantially deprive an investor of their investment's value without formal title transfer.

Fair & Equitable Treatment

The fair and equitable treatment (FET) standard in bilateral investment treaties protects investors against arbitrary, discriminatory, or opaque host state conduct. FET breaches typically involve frustration of legitimate expectations, failure of due process, and lack of transparency.

Sanctions & Regulatory Risk

Sanctions now shape how parties bring claims, perform contracts, and enforce awards. Nearly 25% of ICC cases in Q1 2024 involved sanctions, with the trend expected to continue through 2026.

Political Violence & Instability

Political violence encompasses war, civil war, insurrection, revolution, rebellion, and politically motivated civil commotion. The boundary between political violence and ordinary crime is frequently disputed in insurance and commercial disputes.

Currency Inconvertibility & Transfer

Currency inconvertibility and transfer risk covers the inability to convert local currency to hard currency or transfer funds out of a country due to government restrictions. Expert evidence is needed when the cause of restriction is disputed between political risk and economic policy.

Resource Nationalism

Resource nationalism, where states reassert control over natural resources through licence revocations, windfall taxes, forced renegotiation, or nationalisation, has increased significantly in West Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia in 2024-2026.