ISDS Case Map
investment | BITs
investment | bilateral investment treaties
ROYAL Dutch Shell Plc launched arbitration proceedings against the Nigerian government over a long-running community dispute.
In the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment is expected to face intense resistance from some European lawmakers, while international unionists, who say the pact will do nothing to stop human rights abuses or protect labour rights in China, have vowed to ramp up pressure over the deal.
Categorical claims about the impact of trade deals on FDI are not supported by the evidence, which paints a nuanced and sometimes contradictory picture.
EU negotiators made some progress in important areas like market access, investment liberalization, and sustainable development. But can an incremental bilateral agreement like the CAI really govern economic relations with today’s China?
Some WTO Members are negotiating rules on facilitating investment. This is the draft consolidated text as of 4 February 2021.
The CAI will be judged a few years from now by its implementation and the concrete steps China takes to fulfill its promises. If European companies do not perceive any improvement, and China makes no progress on labour standards, the CAI might come to be viewed as another empty gesture.
Sources said that the government will have its own template for a BIT, which will replace the existing treaties with different countries.
The new EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment will eventually be judged by its implementation and the concrete steps China takes to fulfill its promises. If European firms do not perceive any improvement, and China makes no progress on labor standards, the pact might come to represent an empty gesture.
The CAI will not transform China into an open investment regime nor will it provide new market access opportunities for most European businesses.
The EU will be able to strike an investment deal with India, but a full-blown free trade agreement will be a much harder sell, said Portugal’s foreign minister.
