Introduction

This is the second volume of the Business Guide to Trade and Investment. The first volume covered trade, while this volume provides an overview of rules applicable to making and protecting foreign investments. The editors hope that it will enable the business community and in-house and government counsel to better understand the types of protection provided by international investment agreements and investment contracts, as well as the range of issues that arise in the arbitration of investment disputes. This field is relatively young and still evolving. Major developments are taking place, including efforts to revise the Rules of the International Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and to create an international investment court to address some of the criticisms of the system. Given the sheer number of treaties and investment flows, we expect that the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism will remain an important part of the legal framework for promotion and protection of foreign investment. It is therefore crucial to understand how it works and seek advice when necessary to initiate or defend ISDS claims.

This volume is divided into the following Parts, each accompanied with a summary at the beginning:

  • Part I provides an overview of the subject;
  • Part II discusses preliminary issues that an organisation contemplating making a foreign investment must consider (Chapters 2 through 5);
  • Part III examines sources of investors’ rights with respect to their investments (Chapters 6 and 7);
  • Part IV discusses the substance of investors’ rights (Chapters 8 and 9);
  • Part V discusses important jurisdictional issues (Chapters 10 through 12); and
  • Part VI deals with the process of investor-state dispute settlement (Chapters 13 through 26).

As in Volume 1 of this series, Business Guidance is set forth in shaded boxes in bold and italic type. Case descriptions and brief legal analyses appear in text boxes introduced with a title in bold type. Legal references and cases are provided in endnotes that follow each chapter. Hyperlinks are provided where appropriate. The awards and other rulings in cases cited in this book can usually be found by searching the name of the case on the Internet.