International Investment Agreements Under Scrutiny

Bilateral Investment Treaties, EU Investment Policy and International Development

Author: Thomas Fritz

Gateshead, March 2015

Published by Traidcraft

in the framework of the 'BITs in Pieces' project

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Background:

International Investment Agreements such as Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) pose serious threats to democracy and the rule of law, especially through the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (ISDS). As developing countries continue to be the most frequent respondents in ISDS cases, the number of governments questioning the merits of the international investment regime is constantly growing. Policy reforms proposed in the Global South go far beyond the rather cosmetic changes of the investment framework advocated by the EU in the context of the ongoing negotiations on CETA and TTIP.