The challenge for governments is to find an appropriate balance -- ensuring a sufficient level of protection for its national security interests, while at the same time ensuring that investment protection is still strong enough to keep the country attractive for foreign investors. The review undertaken for this study suggests that up to now, only a minority of IIAs [International investment agreements] contain some kind of national security exception, and that such clauses are more frequent in agreements covering the entry of foreign investment than in treaties limited to the post-establishment phase. IIA Contracting Parties have various options to clarify the scope and conditions under which a national security exception applies. All these options help to prevent the subject of national security exceptions in IIAs from becoming a "black and white" matter, and allow more differentiated solutions to be adopted, permitting a fair balance between the interests of the Contracting Parties and the foreign investors.--Publisher's description