23 things, a high budget deficit, a decline in gross domestic product, a “precarious situation with regard to the trade deficit,” a high rate of underemployment and a fall in tax receipts.70 Because of this, “on August 8, 1990, the [...] government applied a stabilization program that prioritized cleaning up the public finances and liberalizing the exchange rate.”71 Among the anti-inflationary measures dictated as of August 1990 were, for example, a measure for adjustments in remuneration to be “done in accordance with expected inflation rates that were lower and more in line with the effort to stabilize the economy.”72 and the freezing of the “main remunerative elements during the rest of the year.”73 81. Taking this into account, the Court highlights that the representative does not object to the elimination of the salary scale system, but rather to the application of a law that retroactively nullified that remuneration adjustment system. The consequence of the retroactive application of this law was that the victims ceased to receive the full amount of their remuneration, suffering as they did both deductions and the lack of raises that were due to them (supra paras. 63 and 64). These facts had negative effects on the workers’ rights with regard to the remuneration that they had already been paid. 82. In this respect, this Tribunal has in its case law developed a broad concept of property that covers, among other things, the use and enjoyment of goods, defined as both material, appropriable things and as intangible objects,74 as well as all rights that could form part of a person’s wealth.75 Likewise, the Court has, through Article 21 of the Convention, protected vested rights, which are understood as rights that have become part of an individual’s wealth.76 With regard to vested rights, it should be noted that they constitute part of the basis of the “principle of non-retroactivity of the law, which is to say that the new law does not have the authority to regulate or effect juridical situations from the past that have been duly consolidated. Juridical situations are untouchable and unaffected by new law when, with regard to a particular situation of fact, they have had full juridical effect under the laws in force at that time.”77 Finally, it is necessary to reiterate that the right to property is not absolute, and that in that sense it can be 69 Expert witness report presented by Jorge Domingo Gonzalez Izquierdo on September 27, 2010 (case file on the merits, tome II, folio 479). 70 Expert witness report presented by Jorge Domingo Gonzalez Izquierdo, supra note 70, folios 479 and 482). 71 Expert witness report presented by Jorge Domingo Gonzalez Izquierdo, supra note 70, folio 481. 72 Expert witness report presented by Jorge Domingo Gonzalez Izquierdo, supra note 70, folio 426. 73 Expert witness report presented by Jorge Domingo Gonzalez Izquierdo, supra note 70, folio 427. 74 Under customary international law, the type of foreign property protected against expropriation is not limited to movable and immovable property. Intangible rights, including contractual rights, have been protected as ‘acquired’ or ‘vested rights’ in a number of arbitral decisions. International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSIIP), Case of Wena Hotels Ltd. v. Egyp. No. ARB/98/4. Award of 8 December of 2000, para. 98, and Southern Pacific Properties (Middle East) Limited v. Arab Republic of Egypt, No. ARB/84/3, Review 328,375 of 1993. Likewise, the International Court of Justice, Case concerning certain German interests in Polish Upper Silesia. Merits. Judgment of 25 of may 1926. Serie A. No. 7. 75 Cf. Case of Ivcher Bronstein v. Perú. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 6, 2001. Serie C No. 74, paras. 120-122; Case of Salvador Chiriboga v. Ecuador. Preliminary Objection and Merits. Judgment of May 6, 2008. Serie C No. 179, para. 55, and Case of Acevedo Buendía et al (“Discharged and Retired Employees of the Office of the Comptroller), supra note 68, para. 84. 76 Cf. Case of "Cinco Pensionistas" V. Perú. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 28, 2003. Serie C No. 98, para. 102; Case of Salvador Chiriboga, supra note 76, para. 55, and Case of Acevedo Buendía et al (“Discharged and Retired Employees of the Office of the Comptroller”), supra note 68, para. 84. 77 Judgment of C-147/97 of the Constitutional Court of Colombia of March 19, 1997.