Exits from investment treaties: an omen for APAC

0
2156
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Whatsapp
Telegram
Copy link

More than 3,000 investment treaties have been entered into by states in order to ensure investments of foreign investors enjoy a certain level of protection. However, in the late 2000s, an increasing number of states (such as Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and South Africa) have unilaterally withdrawn from some of their investment treaties. This trend has since spread to the Asia-Pacific region, with Indonesia and India announcing their intentions to terminate or withdraw from many of their investment treaties.

In March 2014, Indonesia announced it would not renew its bilateral investment treaty (BIT) with the Netherlands with effect from 1 July 2015. This was followed by another announcement that it would allow all 67 of its BITs to expire, including those with Australia, China, Singapore, and the UK. Indonesia may have made this move in response (at least in part) to cases brought against it by foreign investors; including the Churchill Mining v Indonesia and Planet Mining v Indonesia cases, brought under the UK-Indonesia and Australia-Indonesia BITs, respectively, which concerned expropriation claims arising from a coal project in Borneo.

The timing of the announcements suggest a connection: one month beforehand, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Tribunal had issued its decision on jurisdiction, rejecting Indonesia’s arguments that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the investors’ claims for damages of more than US$1 billion (excluding interest).

You must be a subscribersubscribersubscribersubscriber to read this content, please subscribesubscribesubscribesubscribe today.

For group subscribers, please click here to access.
Interested in group subscription? Please contact us.

你需要登录去解锁本文内容。欢迎注册账号。如果想阅读月刊所有文章,欢迎成为我们的订阅会员成为我们的订阅会员

已有集团订阅,可点击此处继续浏览。
如对集团订阅感兴趣,请联络我们

Business Law Digest is compiled with the assistance of Baker McKenzie. Readers should not act on this information without seeking professional legal advice. You can contact Baker McKenzie by emailing: Danian Zhang at danian.zhang@bakermckenzie.com, or for general enquiries contact Anand Ramaswamy at anand.ramaswamy@bakermckenzie.com

LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Whatsapp
Telegram
Copy link