Investor Presentaiton
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accordance with the law of the host State; non-compliance with this
requirement precludes an investor's protection by the treaty and its
access to ISDS. The definition of investment thus delineates the
range of assets protected under the treaty, including those protected
through the ISDS mechanism. 38
Exclusion of certain policy areas from treaty scope. IIAs
apply to an extremely broad range of State conduct encompassing
practically any action or inaction of any governmental body. Some
treaties, however, remove particular policy areas from the treaty's
coverage. Frequently excluded areas are taxation, government
procurement and subsidies. A treaty may also exclude specific
sectors or industries (e.g., essential social services such as
healthcare or education, or industries deemed sensitive such as
cultural industries, fisheries, nuclear energy and so forth).
Government conduct falling within those policy areas or applicable
to the excluded industries is thus not subject to arbitral review under
the IIA.
Pre-establishment
V. post-establishment. As briefly
mentioned above, 39 some IIAs start applying once an investment is
established in the host country ("post-establishment" IIAs), while
others contain obligations relating to acquisition and establishment
38
A claim brought under the ICSID Convention must additionally satisfy
the jurisdictional limitations of the Convention. In particular, the
transaction/assets concerned must qualify as an "investment” under the
Convention. Tribunals have offered different interpretations as to what
constitutes an investment under the Convention. Some tribunals find it
sufficient when an investment satisfies the definition in the applicable IIA;
others would add additional requirements, including: a requirement that the
investment contribute to the economic development of the host State, last a
certain duration, require an investor to undertake a certain amount of risk,
generate regular profit and return, and encompass a substantial
commitment of capital. For details, see UNCTAD, 2011d, pp. 48-65.
See section II.B.2.iii.
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UNCTAD Series on International Investment Agreements IIView entire presentation