{"id":9427,"date":"2024-01-13T08:42:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T07:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=9427"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:33:21","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:33:21","slug":"european-commission-publishes-model-bit-clauses-between-eu-member-states-and-third-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2024\/01\/13\/european-commission-publishes-model-bit-clauses-between-eu-member-states-and-third-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"European Commission publishes model BIT clauses between EU member states and third countries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2023, the European Commission has unveiled a <a href=\"https:\/\/edit.wti.org\/document\/show\/74fa928b-21bd-4ff6-b80d-e21dda7e13c7\">non-paper<\/a> presenting model clauses for BITs between <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span> member states and third countries. These model clauses, accompanied by annotations, aim to guide member states in negotiating or renegotiating their BITs with third states. They reflect the EU&#8217;s investment-protection approach but are not an official EU model <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips63'>BIT<\/span>. The model clauses cover various aspects like <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips69'>FET<\/span>, expropriation, relationship to tax agreements, sustainable development, parallel claims, early dismissal of unfounded claims, and arbitrators\u2019 ethical conduct. They also contain a number of EU-specific provisions, such as temporary measures to safeguard the operation of the economic and monetary union, and limits to arbitrators\u2019 power to assess domestic and EU law in investor\u2013state disputes. While promoting a multilateral investment court, they do not prohibit states from using investor\u2013state arbitration. The model clauses are likely to influence future BIT negotiations despite being non-binding. What is worth highlighting is that while they are presented as being based on member states\u2019 best practices, overall, the model clauses are based on a strong investment-protection rationale, containing, for example, broad definitions of \u201cinvestor\u201d and \u201cinvestment\u201d and even an umbrella clause. Their <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips64'>CSR<\/span> provisions do not contain investor obligations.<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips64','Corporate social responsibility'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips69','fair and equitable treatment'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips76','multilateral investment court'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips110','inversi\u00f3n extranjera directa'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2023, the European Commission has unveiled a non-paper presenting model clauses for BITs between <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span> member states and third countries. These model clauses, accompanied by annotations, aim to [&hellip;]<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips63','Bilateral investment treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips110','inversi\u00f3n extranjera directa'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1900],"class_list":["post-9427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-current-issue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}