Protecting Foreign Investment Under International Law

This book is a thought-provoking and authoritative text on this fast moving field of international law.

This book analyses the adequacy of Mongolia’s legal system for foreign investment protection by conducting a multi-level assessment of international investment treaties, domestic legislation of the host State, and investor-State contracts from an international comparative perspective. The investigation distinguishes between three legal dimensions, each of which offers both substantive legal guarantees for the protection of investments in the host State and provisions for the settlement of investment disputes by arbitration. In the first dimension of Public International Law (PIL), Mongolia is bound by international investment treaties, which offer investors an international law setting. In the second dimension, a special domestic investment law defines the domestic framework for the establishment, promotion and protection of investments, but also for the conclusion of investor-State contracts. These contracts in turn open a third legal dimension, which represents a cross-section through the PIL and domestic-law dimensions of investment protection. Following the development of a multi-level system with legal dimensions that are not isolated but rather interrelated and mutually reinforcing, the book examines whether Mongolia’s international investment treaties and domestic investment law reflect globally shared international and domestic standards of treatment and protection of foreign investments. Lastly, the author inquires whether the domestic laws applicable to investor-State contracts in Mongolia allow investors and the Mongolian Government to agree on protective terms according to the (not uncontroversial) standards of international contract practice.

The climate surrounding foreign investment law is one of controversy and change, and with implications for human rights and environmental protection, foreign investment law has gained widespread public attention and visibility. This fully updated edition of Sornarajah's classic text offers thought-provoking analysis of the law in historical, political and economic contexts, capturing leading trends and charting the possible course of future developments. It takes into account the newer types of treaties that establish a regulatory space for states and moves away from inflexible investment protection, exploring the newly created defences relating to environment, human rights, indigenous rights and other areas ending the fragmentation of the law. It looks at the current debates on legitimacy of the system and current efforts at reform. Suitable for postgraduate and undergraduate students, The International Law on Foreign Investment is essential reading for anyone specialising in the law of foreign investments.

Increasingly, transnational corporations, developed countries and private actors are broadening the boundaries of their investments into new territories, in search of a higher return on capital. This growth in direct foreign investment involves serious concerns for both the investor and host state. Various exponents of international civil society and non-governmental organisations persuasively claim that such growth in foreign investments constitutes potential and serious hazards both to the environment and the fundamental rights and freedoms of local populations. This book explores from an international law perspective the complex relationship between foreign investments and common concerns, i.e. values that do not coincide, or do not necessarily coincide, with the interests of the investor and of the host state. It pays particular attention to the role of the main international development banks in reconciling the needs of foreign investors with the protection of common concerns, such as the environment, human rights and labour rights. Among its collection of essays, the volume asks how much "regulatory space" investment law leaves; whether international investment law is an effective means of balancing contrasting interests, and whether investment arbitration currently constitutes a mechanism of global governance. In collecting the outlooks of various experts in human rights, environmental and international economic law, this book breaks new ground in exploring how attention to its legal aspects may help in navigating the relationship between foreign investment and common concerns. In doing so, the book provides valuable insights into the substantive issues and institutional aspects of international investment law.

The author examines different techniques adopted by States for attracting foreign investment and for ensuring that foreign investment serves their economic objectives.

'...This book [...] goes beyond stating what the law is and focuses on controversies occurring within this area of the law... an excellent introduction to this complex area of international law for newcomers to the subject' Kate Miles, Australian International Law Journal The updated edition of this acclaimed book offers a critical overview of the law of foreign investment, incorporating a thorough analysis of the principles and standards of treatment available to foreign investors in international law. It is authoritative and multi-layered, offering an analysis of the key issues and an insightful assessment of recent trends in the case law, from both developed and developing country perspectives. A major feature of the book is that it deals with the tension between the law of foreign investment and other competing principles of international law. In doing so, it proposes ways of achieving a balance between these principles and the need to protect the legitimate rights and expectations of foreign investors on the one hand, and the need not to restrict unduly the right of host governments to implement their public policy on the other, including the protection of the environment and human rights, and the promotion of social and economic justice within the host country. Many of the pioneering ideas that were advanced in the first edition of this book have been taken up by governments and international organisations in their attempts to reform the investor-State dispute settlement mechanism and strike a balance between different competing principles in developing international investment law. Accordingly, this fifth edition captures the essence of the ongoing multiple reform processes – either planned or envisaged – currently underway.

While conditions for foreign investors are generally safer in today's global economy than in previous decades, the issues to consider with regard to political risk go far beyond the obvious. Investors must continue to exercise caution in developing countries or under governments with a history of instability, & even the "safest" countries have certain risks associated with them. The only text available of its kind, this authoritative volume discusses the political risk of expropriation, both direct & indirect, & the various protections that are available under international law to minimize these risks. Plus, detailed references, useful appendices & contact information are provided. Written from the perspective of the practitioner, this text provides: * A review & explanation of the international law regarding political risk * Methods for the investor to reduce exposure to political risk through business structure, contract negotiation, & risk insurance * An explanation of the arbitral, judicial, & political options open to the investor following a taking of the investor's property Topics Covered Include: * International law regarding expropriation * Treaty provisions regarding protection of investment * Contracts with host states * Procuring investment insurance * Diplomacy between the host state & the investor's home state.

Foreign investors have a privileged position under investment treaties. They enjoy strong rights, have no obligations, and can rely on a highly efficient enforcement mechanism: investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Unsurprisingly, this extraordinary status has made international investment law one of the most controversial areas of the global economic order. This book sheds new light on the topic, by showing that foreign investor rights are not the result of unpredicted arbitral interpretations, but rather the outcome of a world-making project realized by a coalition of business leaders, bankers, and their lawyers in the 1950s and 1960s. Some initiatives that these figures planned for did not emerge, such as a multilateral investment convention, but they were successful in developing a legal imagination that gradually occupied the space of international investment law. They sought not only to set up a dispute settlement mechanism but also to create a platform to ground their vision of foreign investment relations. Tracing their normative project from the post-World War II period, this book shows that the legal imagination of these business leaders, bankers, and lawyers is remarkably similar to present ISDS practice. Common to both is what they protect, such as foreign investors' legitimate expectations, as well as what they silence or make invisible. Ultimate, this book argues that our canon of imagination, of adjustment and potential reform, remains closely associated with this world-making project of the 1950s and 1960s.