IIA Navigator This database of IIAs – the IIA Navigator – is maintained by UNCTAD`s IIA section. You can search for IAIs completed by a specific country or group of countries, view recently completed IIAs, or use advanced contract search for sophisticated searches tailored to your needs. Please cite as: UNCTAD, Navigator for International Investment Agreements, available under investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/ The EU is one of the most open places of investment in the world. Since 2009, the EU has been responsible for foreign direct investment policy on behalf of EU Member States. The EU`s investment policy aims to promote the creation of a more transparent, efficient and predictable business climate for investors through investment facilitation. This includes, for example, making information on investment regulations public and easily accessible or reducing delays in obtaining regulatory approvals and approvals. International investment treaties (IIAs) are divided into two types: (1) bilateral investment treaties and (2) investment treaty agreements. A bilateral investment agreement (BIT) is an agreement between two countries on the promotion and protection of investments made by investors from each country in the territory of the other country. The vast majority of IIAs are BITs. The category of investment provision contracts (IPTs) combines different types of investment agreements that are not BITs.
Three main types of TIP can be distinguished: 1. global economic contracts that contain obligations commonly found in BITs (e.B. a free trade agreement with an investment chapter); 2. contracts with limited investment provisions (e.B. only contracts for the installation of installations or the free transfer of funds related to the investment); and 3. Contracts containing only «framework clauses», such as those relating to cooperation in the field of investment and/or a mandate for future negotiations on investment issues. In addition to IIAs, there is also an open category of investment-related instruments (IRRI). It includes various binding and non-binding instruments and includes, for example, model agreements and draft instruments, multilateral conventions on dispute settlement and arbitration rules, documents adopted by international organizations and others. In view of the termination agreement, it would be desirable for INVESTORS established in the EU with holdings in other EU Member States to consider structuring (or, where appropriate, restructuring) their investments by a vehicle registered outside the EU in order to ensure that they are fully protected by a BIT between a Member State and a third country not affected by the termination agreement. Since 18 February 2020, the Commission has published its implementing decisions on authorisations granted to individual EU members for bilateral investment treaties.
The EU negotiates or implements investment rules in trade agreements or autonomous investment agreements. These investment rules concern: the EU is the world`s largest donor and the world`s leading destination for foreign investment. Foreign direct investment holdings held by EU-based investors in the rest of the world amounted to €8.75 trillion at the end of 2018. At the same time, stocks of foreign direct investment held by third-country investors in the EU amounted to €7.197 billion at the end of 2018. In November 2015, the EU adopted a reformed approach to the settlement of investment disputes in order to keep abreast of the highest standards of legitimacy and transparency. This introduced clearer and more precise rules for investment protection by creating a permanent dispute settlement mechanism called the Investment Court System. [3] Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, 1 January 1992. However, caution should be exercised in the context of investment restructuring and investors who so wish should seek legal advice. It is true that the restructuring of investments before a dispute arises with the aim of maximising the protection of investment agreements is a legitimate business objective; carrying out such a restructuring where a potential dispute is already emerging may result in the loss of contractual protection. The European Commission encourages further dispute settlement reform and, together with its trading partners, is leading efforts to establish a multilateral investment court to adjudicate investment disputes. Investment facilitation helps to open up investment opportunities, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
It should also benefit developing countries by making it easier for domestic and foreign investors to do their day-to-day business and increase their existing investments. In 2012, the EU adopted a regulation establishing a set of rules for bilateral investment treaties between different EU members and third countries to ensure that they are in line with EU law and EU investment policy. On 6 April 2020, the Commission presented a report on the application of the Regulation. The IIA Navigator is continuously adapted following reviews with and comments from UN Member States. It is mainly based on information provided by governments on a voluntary basis. A contract is included in a country`s IIA statement once it is formally concluded; Contracts whose negotiations have been concluded but not signed are not counted. A contract is excluded from the IVI account once its termination takes effect, whether or not it continues to have a legal effect on certain investments during its «sunset» period. In the case of renewals, only one of the contracts between the same parties is counted. Depending on the situation, the counted treaty may be «old» if it remains in force until the ratification of the newly concluded IIA. Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the content, UNCTAD assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions in such data. The information and texts contained in the database are for purely informative purposes and have no official or legal status. In case of doubt about the contents of the database, it is recommended to contact the competent governmental authority of the State(s) concerned.
Users are invited to report any agreement, error or omission via the online contact form. It remains to be seen how the termination agreement will affect ongoing arbitrations and national legal proceedings relating to intra-EU BITs. Ultimately, these courts and national jurisdictions will need to assess how the termination agreement interacts with other international obligations of EU Member States that may also be at stake, such as those of the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. Following the Achmea judgment, the respondent EU Member States, in arbitration proceedings within the EU investment treaties (i.e. involving an investor from an EU Member State), have always sought to challenge the jurisdiction of the courts on the basis of the findings of the Achmea judgment. .