Unit 12 - Readings & Viewings
Global Supply Chains & FTAs and Investment Law Overlap, Now Resilence
Investment law is a very broad area with at least three layers from our perspective (customary law, investment treaties and FTAs), so readings can only hit a few highlights here, and then we explore how well you understand general principles in working a few problems. Just remember that the link to our broader topic is that foreign investment protections are commonly an integral part of FTAs, which are the other option in trade law terms beyond the multilateral trading system. With that in mind, please read:
E. Lauterpacht, “International Law and Private Foreign Investment,” 4 Indiana J Global Legal Studies 257 (1997)
Latham & Watkins Client Alert, “Investment Treaty Arbitration: A Primer,” 07/29/13.
Coleman & Innes, “Investor-State Arbitration and “Fair and Equitable” Treatment (Steptoe client letter, 05/19/15).
S. Dutta, “Will ‘Investor-State Arbitration’ Survive the COVID-19 Crisis?” OpinioJuris 07/05/20.
To get a sense of how FTA provisions look in the treaty context,
- Read specifically the investment protection provisions of NAFTA and the AEC, namely
a. NAFTA Chapter 11 (Version 1.0) and compare it with the USMCA (NAFTA 2.0) investment protection changes noted in
b. “From NAFTA to USMCA: Main Changes to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement System” (Debevoise client letter, 05/07/20).
c. ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (the AEC has a separate investment protection agreement, instead of just a chapter in a larger FTA agreement, and the way a multinational’s investment would fall within the agreement’s coverage would be simply to make the investment through an affiliate incorporated in an ASEAN member country like Singapore, since in the US case it would then fit additionally under the Singapore-US FTA)