This article explores the extent to which the general exceptions found in Article XX of the GATT 1947 can be incorporated into investment treaties to better balance protection of investments with a state’s ability to regulate in the public interest. The impetus for this article is Australia’s recent rejection of investor-state arbitration, which raises the risk that other states in the Asia-Pacific will follow this policy. At the core of Australia’s concern was the risk of investment treaties curtailing legitimate regulatory action. After evaluating the ways in which investment treaty law already protects regulatory measures, this article explores how Article XX of the GATT seeks to protect regulatory measures within the framework of promoting liberalised trade. Rather than rejecting investor-state arbitration, the article advocates incorporating general exceptions into investment treaties as a means of better protecting regulatory measures.