scholarly journals AN OVERVIEW OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT LAWS ENFORCED IN PAKISTAN

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-154
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khalid Hayat
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Economic Zones

This research paper examines the foreign investment laws and procedure of Pakistan and their role in protection of foreign investment in Pakistan. These laws are untapped area of research and one cannot find any specific research tracing the legal development in this highly specialized field. So far Pakistan has 48 BITs enforced with different countries and has also signed ICSID Convention, which is promulgated locally through Arbitration (International Investment Disputes) Act, 2011 incorporating the Convention in the schedule to ease the difficulty of foreign investors to enforce the awards rendered under auspices of ICSID in the territory of Pakistan. Under this research, an attempt has been made to study prevalent foreign investment laws and its trends in Pakistan. Though Pakistan has significantly improved its foreign investment regime by introducing new investor’s friendly laws like, Special Economic Zones Act, 2011 and Investment Policy, 2013 etc., apart from its previous legislation on the subject, yet this regime needs more improvement and updating. Extensive overview of all existing foreign investment laws were carried out in this research. Fair and Equitable Treatment, Expropriation and other factors affecting foreign investment laws are the areas, which need to be taken care of by policy maker in the existing foreign investment laws of Pakistan. With these aims, it is hoped that this research paper would be a humble contribution in the literature on the subject.

Part IV Law and Applicable Principles, 19 Principles of Investment Protection in International Mining Disputes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burnett Henry G ◽  
Bret Louis-Alexis
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Most Favored Nation ◽  
National Treatment ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Secure Access ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Full Protection

In an effort to attract foreign investment many countries, especially developing economies, have created favorable investment conditions by setting up domestic and international guarantees for foreign investors. In addition to adopting foreign investment laws, many countries have concluded bilateral and multilateral investment treaties aimed at promoting and protecting foreign investment. These treaties provide a number of guarantees concerning foreign investment, which typically include the protection from expropriation; fair and equitable treatment (FET); full protection and security; the protection against arbitrary or discriminatory measures, national treatment, and most favored nation treatment; and, for some of them the observance of other undertakings entered into by contracting States with investors. This chapter examines each of these guarantees as well as the means to maximize investment protection and secure access to international arbitration.

scholarly journals Preventing the Regulatory Chill of International Investment Law and Arbitration

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Atif M. Alenezi
Keyword(s):  
International Investment ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
Resolution System ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Foreign Corporations ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis

International investment law has increasingly come under attack because it does not put host states on par with foreign investors. Foreign investors can evoke broad investment rights and pursue investment arbitration. The threat of substantial arbitral awards can result in host states not enacting policies, regulations, laws or reaching decisions, despite them being needed in order to protect a variety of important public interests. The concern is, therefore, that international investment law, including the investor-state dispute resolution system, causes a regulatory chill. The paper examines how the asymmetric relationship between foreign investors and host states can be remedied, so that trust in international investment law is strengthened and its legitimacy crisis is overcome. One core issue with international investment law is that the customary international minimum standard and its therein subsumed full protection and security, and fair and equitable treatment and compensation principles are inherently vague, thereby contributing to the overprotection of foreign investors. Arbitral cases further highlight how regulatory changes can result in host states incurring liability and thus enable foreign corporations to shift potential costs and risks. International, and national solutions to prevent the regulatory chill of international investment agreements are spelled out.

A Duty to Consult Foreign Investors When Changing the Regulatory Framework? Implications for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 698-723
Author(s):  
Caroline Henckels
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Treatment Standard ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Non Communicable Disease

Abstract Several decisions of international investment tribunals can be read as suggesting that the fair and equitable treatment standard may oblige governments to consult foreign investors in the course of developing new laws and policies. This position would significantly expand the concept of fair and equitable treatment, and goes far beyond what most domestic legal systems require of governments. Generally speaking, there may be sound instrumental and normative reasons for engaging in consultation with affected stakeholders in the course of legislative and policy development. However, with the exception of treaty provisions that otherwise so provide, no duty of consultation in the lawmaking process arises from fair and equitable treatment clauses, customary international law or general principles of law. Therefore, industries such as the tobacco industry are unlikely to succeed in a claim of failure to properly engage in consultation in the process of lawmaking.

The Admission of Foreign Investment under the TPP and RCEP

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1058-1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amokura Kawharu
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Investment ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Economic Partnership ◽  
Partnership Agreement ◽  
Investor Protections ◽  
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ◽  
Equitable Treatment

The loss of host state regulatory autonomy features prominently in current debates regarding the legitimacy of international investment law. Recent literature on the subject has tended to concentrate on the scope of post-admission investor protections such as fair and equitable treatment, while the regulatory implications of pre-admission obligations are sometimes overlooked. This article compares the likely obligations concerning the admission of foreign investment under two proposed mega-regional free trade agreements (FTAs), the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It then considers the regulatory implications of the predicted obligations for New Zealand in light of the pressure that New Zealand is likely to face in the negotiations to agree to the treaty preferences of its negotiating counterparts. The article concludes that the TPP is likely to adopt a stronger investment liberalization model than the RCEP, and will also therefore present greater regulatory challenges.

Part II The International Law Framework of Investment Protection and Political Risk, 6 The Substantive Law of Contemporary International Investment Protection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubins Noah ◽  
Papanastasiou Thomas-Nektarios ◽  
Kinsella N Stephan
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Transition Economy ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Investment Treaties ◽  
Substantive Law ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
National Investment ◽  
Domestic Law

Investors increasingly rely on the substantive protections provided in a growing number of investment treaties. This chapter covers the modern international law of investment protection as embodied in multilateral and bilateral investment treaties, including principles such as fair and equitable treatment, and full protection and security. The substantive protections investment treaties described in this chapter are often echoed in the national investment laws of developing and transition-economy countries. In particular, many recent national investment codes place limitations on the State’s authority to expropriate foreign assets, sometimes granting rights superior to those provided at customary international law. International investment treaties also guarantee proper application of domestic law by government authorities, national treatment, repatriation of profits, compensation for breach and other standards of treatment.

Part III Substantive Rights, 7 Treatment of Investors

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
McLachlan Campbell ◽  
Shore Laurence ◽  
Weiniger Matthew
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Approach ◽  
International Investment ◽  
National Treatment ◽  
Treatment Standards ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
General Rules ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Full Protection

Chapter 7 examines central treaty provisions on the treatment of investors. It begins with a discussion of the basis and character of treatment obligations, paying attention to the rule of law in international investment protection, the structure of investor treatment provisions within investment treaties, the historical evolution of the treatment standards, and the use of general rules in their interpretation. It then considers how the treatment standards have been developed and applied in contemporary arbitral awards. It conducts a detailed analysis of the principal treaty protections of fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, national treatment, and most-favoured-nation treatment. It concludes by offering an integrated approach to the determination of contested rights.

3 Fair And Equitable Treatment

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gallagher Norah ◽  
Shan Wenhua
Keyword(s):  
Bilateral Investment Treaties ◽  
National Treatment ◽  
Standard Format ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Host State ◽  
Fair And Equitable Treatment ◽  
Investment Treaties ◽  
Equitable Treatment ◽  
Full Protection

Like other bilateral investment treaties (BITs), Chinese BITs establish a set of general standards of treatment accorded to foreign investors by the host state. The most commonly found general standards of treatment include fair and equitable treatment (FET), (full) protection and security (PNS), most favoured nation treatment (MFN), and national treatment (NT). The first two belong to the group of non-contingent standards (or so-called “absolute standard of treatment”), whilst the latter two are forms of contingent standards (or “relative standards of treatment”). Absolute standards do not depend on treatment granted to other investors. In contrast, the relative standards are contingent on treatment given to other categories of investors, nationals of the host state in the case of NT and investors from third states for the MFN. This chapter begins with an examination of the FET standard, focusing on the different approaches of interpretations that have been developed in theory and in arbitration practice. It then analyzes the standard under Chinese BITs and assesses the implications of its standard format and any variations.

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