FLESHING OUT THE PROVISIONS FOR PROTECTING FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Mohammad Belayet Hossain

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the jurisprudence developed by international courts and tribunals with regard to the standard of treatment of foreign investors, with particular focus on issues concerning expropriation. In doing so, it will analyse some of the standard-setting decisions and far-reaching implications of: the Iran-US Claims Tribunals, the International Court of Justice and the ICSID. It will also examine the recent trend in jurisprudence on the so-called regulatory takings of foreign investment. It will explore: (a) how the decisions of international courts and tribunals have ‘fleshed out’ the principles of the law of foreign investment on, inter alia, the definition of expropriation and nationalisation and determination of the quantum of compensation; (b) how the frontiers of expropriation have been extended to cover regulatory takings

Keywords

Foreign investment, expropriation, quantum of compensation, the ICSID, International Court of Justice.

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References

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23 ILM 1090 (1984); 4 Iran–US C.T.R. 122 (1983).

6 Iran–US C.T.R. 219 (1984).

15 Iran–US C.T.R. 189.

However, in the Limaco case (20 ILM 1 (1981), at pp.58-59) the sole arbitrator held that for nationalisation to be lawful there was no separate public purpose requirement in international law. Neither the 1803 PSNR resolution nor the 1974 CERD mention non-discrimination as a requirement. There are scholars who do not agree that to be lawful nationalizations should be non-discriminatory. See Baade, Miller and Stranger (eds.), Essays on Expropriation (1967), p.24. However, most BITs and MITs make both public purpose and non-discrimination necessary conditions for expropriation and nationalisation.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20961/yustisia.v7i3.25334

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