The growing pains of investment treaties, Angel Gurría`s blog, 13 October 2014 Interest in redesigning investment treaties has continued to grow in the face of challenges ranging from the COVID crisis to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The OECD Work Programme on the Future of Investment Agreements, launched in March 2021, examines how tomorrow`s investment agreements could help address these challenges and how existing agreements can be addressed pragmatically. The paramount importance of addressing the climate crisis is at the heart of the work. Most-favoured-nation treatment in international investment law The balance between investor protection and regulatory law in investment agreements: a framework document Investment treaties grant foreign investors special international protection and give them the opportunity to assert these rights against the countries in which they have invested. This book systematically reviews the law of IITs, particularly with regard to their origin, structure, content and effects. Although the specific provisions of investment treaties are not uniform, virtually all investment treaties deal with the same issues. This book examines these issues in detail, including the scope, entry requirements for foreign investment, and general standards for the treatment of foreign investment. Investment contract law has evolved rapidly and dramatically since the publication of the second edition of this book in 2015. The number and scope of investment treaties, now estimated at 3300, and investor–state arbitrations, which reached more than 1000 in 2020, have increased considerably in this area. The sector has also undergone significant changes and reforms.
In 2018, despite the withdrawal of the United States, eleven Pacific Basin countries pursued the conclusion of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a potentially ambitious regional trade and investment agreement. The following year, the three North American countries replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). And in 2020, European Union member states ended more than 100 intra-EU BITs, leaving intra-EU investors to rely solely on EU law and litigation to protect against adverse government actions. This issue of The Law of Investment Treaties examines all of these and other reforms in its analysis of the body of laws created by investment treaties since World War II. Current challenges such as climate change, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and digital transformation can only be addressed through international and domestic investments. Poorly designed contracts can hinder progress, while well-designed investment agreements can help companies meet today`s challenges. Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are international agreements that set the conditions for private investment by nationals and enterprises of one state in another state. This first survey on climate policies for investment treaties will shed light on actions taken or envisaged by governments to align their investment treaty networks with the Paris Agreement and net-zero emissions targets. The survey questions and the Secretariat`s introductory note are provided as part of the commitment to inform stakeholders and the public about the work on investment treaties and to allow input from experts and others. Salacuse, Dean Emeritus of the Fletcher School and Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Since the end of World War II, nations of the world that believe that international investment increases their individual prosperity have actively negotiated investment treaties to create an international legal framework to achieve their goals.
Investment treaties, often referred to as “international investment agreements” (IIAs), are essentially instruments of international law by which states (1) enter into obligations to other states regarding the treatment they will accord to investors and investments of those other states, and (2) agree on a mechanism to enforce those obligations. By 2020, the total number of investment treaties had reached 3300, making it one of the most active areas of international legislation. A peculiarity of most of these agreements is that investors aggrieved by host country actions have the right to sue host governments in international arbitration for redress for their violations. By 2020, aggrieved investors had invoked this lawsuit in more than 1,000 investor-state disputes, many of which resulted in substantial damages amounting to hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Another consequence of the investment contract movement has been the creation of a new legal space for international law firms. Investment treaties are an important part of the framework that governs the conditions for foreign investment in many countries. About 2500 such treaties are in force today, including the investment provisions of trade agreements. Many of them were designed decades ago with a global economy and different concerns in mind.