Comparative Commentary to Brazil’s Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs) with Mozambique, Angola, Mexico, and Malawi
Unlike traditional bilateral investment treaties (BITs), which are geared toward investor protection, Brazil’s Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs—or ACFIs in their Portuguese acronym) focus primarily on cooperation and investment facilitation.
Unlike traditional bilateral investment treaties (BITs), which are geared toward investor protection, Brazil’s Cooperation and Investment Facilitation Agreements (CIFAs—or ACFIs in their Portuguese acronym) focus primarily on cooperation and investment facilitation.
They promote amicable ways to prevent and settle disputes and propose state–state dispute settlement as a backup; notably, they do not include provisions on investor–state arbitration. The Brazilian approach therefore offers an alternative to governments that wish to reduce unintended risks of arbitration while finding ways to settle disagreements that may arise with investors. This note compares the first four CIFAs concluded and provides an overview and a critical legal commentary of their texts, followed by suggestions and recommendations for existing and future CIFAs.
You might also be interested in
Building the Investment Case for Nature-Based Infrastructure
Nature-based infrastructure help increase societies' resilience to climate change and the insurance industry can play a key role.
Preserving Tax Sovereignty
As countries negotiate the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, this report examines how its provisions can be shaped to prevent tax disputes from being redirected into ISDS, ensuring they are addressed through tax-specific mechanisms.
Anchoring Sustainable Development in the UNIDROIT–ICC Instrument on International Investment Contracts
The UNIDROIT-ICC draft Instrument on International Investment Contracts is open for consultation, presenting a critical moment to embed sustainability.
Decoding the Belt and Road Initiative’s Legal Architecture
This article unpacks the Belt and Road Initiative's legal architecture—covering hard law (such as treaties and contracts), soft law (such as memoranda of understanding), and the unique role of China's state-owned enterprises—and sets out recommendations for host country policy-makers on how to navigate this hybrid legal environment.