Annex 2
[DRAFT] AGREEMENT [ . . . . . . . .
]
BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF
FOR THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF INVESTMENTS
The Government of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of ;
Desiring to create favourable conditions for
greater investment by nationals and companies of one State in
the territory of the other State;
Recognising that the encouragement and reciprocal
protection under international agreement of such investments will
be conducive to the stimulation of individual business initiative
and will increase prosperity in both States;
Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement:
(a) "investment" means every kind
of asset and in particular, though not exclusively, includes:
(i) movable and immovable property and
any other property rights such as mortgages, liens or pledges;
(ii) shares in and stock and debentures of a
company and any other form of participation in a company;
(iii) claims to money or to any performance under
contract having a financial value;
(iv) intellectual property rights, goodwill,
technical processes and know-how;
(v) business concessions conferred by law or
under contract, including concessions to search for cultivate,
extract or exploit natural resources.
A change in the form in which assests are invested
does not affect their character as investments and the term "investment"
includes all investments, whether made before or after the date
of entry into force of this Agreement;
(b) "returns" means the amounts
yielded by an investment and in particular, though not exclusively,
includes profit, interest, capital gains, dividends, royalties
and fees;
(i) in respect of the United Kingdom:
physical persons deriving their status as United Kingdom nationals
from the law in force in the United Kingdom;
(ii) in respect of:
(i) in respect of the United Kingdom:
corporations, firms and associations incorporated or constituted
under the law in force in any part of the United Kingdom or in
any territory to which this Agreement is extended in accordance
with the provisions of Article 12;
(ii) in respect of:
(i) in respect of the United Kingdom:
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including the territorial
sea and any maritime area situated beyond the territorial sea
of the United Kingdom which has been or might in the future be
designated under the national law of the United Kingdom in accordance
with international law as an area within which the United Kingdom
may exercise rights with regard to the sea-bed and subsoil and
the natural resources and any territory to which this Agreement
is extended in accordance with the provisions of Article 12;
(ii) in respect of:
ARTICLE 2
Promotion and Protection of Investment
(1) Each Contracting Party shall encourage
and create favourable conditions for national or companies of
the other Contracting Party to invest capital in its territory,
and, subject to its right to exercise powers conferred by its
laws, shall admit such capital.
(2) Investments of nationals or companies
or each Contracting Party shall at all times be accorded fair
and equitable treatment and shall enjoy full protection and security
in the territory of the other Contracting Party. Neither Contracting
Party shall in any way impair by unreasonable or discriminatory
measures the management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or disposal
of investments in its territory of nationals or companies of the
other Contracting Party. Each Contracting Party shall observe
any obligation it may have entered into with regard to investments
of nationals or companies of the other Contracting Party.
ARTICLE 3
National Treatment and Most-favoured-nation
Provisions
(1) Neither Contracting Party shall in its
territory subject investments or returns of nationals or companies
of the other Contracting Party to treatment less favourable than
that which it accords to investments or returns of its own nationals
or companies or to investments or returns of nationals or companies
of any third State.
(2) Neither Contracting Party shall in its
territory subject nationals or companies of the other Contracting
Party, as regards their management, maintenance, use, enjoyment
or disposal of their investments, to treatment less favourable
than that which it accords to its own nationals or companies or
to nationals or companies of any third State.
(3) For the avoidance of doubt it is confirmed
that the treatment provided for in paragraphs (1) and (2) above
shall apply to the provisions of Articles 1 to 11 of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 4
Compensation for Losses
(1) Nationals or companies of one Contracting
Party whose investments in the territory of the other Contracting
Party suffer losses owing to war or other armed conflict, revolution,
a state of national emergency, revolt, insurrection or riot in
the territory of the latter Contracting Party shall be accorded
by the latter Contracting Party treatment, as regards restitution,
indemnification, compensation or other settlement, no less favourable
than that which the latter Contracting Party accords to its own
nationals or companies or to nationals or companies of any third
State. Resulting payments shall be freely transferable.
(2) Without prejudice to paragraph (1) of
this Article, nationals or companies of one Contracting Party
who in any of the situations referred to in that paragraph suffer
losses in the territory of the other Contracting Party resulting
from:
(a) requisitioning of their property by its
forces or authorities, or
(b) destruction of their property by its
forces or authorities, which was not caused in combat action or
was not required by the necessity of the situation,
shall be accorded restitution or adequate compensation.
Resulting payments shall be freely transferable.
ARTICLE 5
Expropriation
(1) Investments of nationals or companies
of either Contracting Party shall not be nationalised, expropriated
or subjected to measures having effect equivalent to nationalisation
or expropriation (hereinafter referred to as "expropriation")
in the territory of the other Contracting Party except for a public
purpose related to the internal needs of that Party on a non-discriminatory
basis and against prompt, adequate and effective compensation.
Such compensation shall amount to the genuine value of the investment
expropriated immediately before the expropriation or before the
impending expropriation became public knowledge, whichever is
the earlier, shall include interest at a normal commercial rate
until the date of payment, shall be made without delay, be effectively
realisable and be freely transferable. The national or company
affected shall have a right, under the law of the Contracting
Party making the expropriation, to prompt review, by a judicial
or other independent authority of that Party, of his or its case
and of the valuation of his or its investment in accordance with
the principles set out in this paragraph.
(2) Where a Contracting Party expropriates
the assets of a company which is incorporated or constituted under
the law in force in any part of its own territory, and in which
nationals or companies of the other Contracting Party own shares,
it shall ensure that the provisions of paragraph (1) of this Article
are applied to the extent necessary to guarantee prompt, adequate
and effective compensation in respect of their investment to such
nationals or companies of the other Contracting Party who are
owners of those shares.
ARTICLE 6
Repatriation of Investment and Returns
Each Contracting Party shall in respect of investments
guarantee to nationals or companies of the other Contracting Party
the unrestricted transfer of their investments and returns. Transfers
shall be effected without delay in the convertible currency in
which the capital was originally invested or in any other convertible
currency agreed by the investor and the Contracting Party concerned.
Unless otherwise agreed by the investor transfers shall be made
at the rate of exchange applicable on the date of transfer pursuant
to the exchange regulations in force.
ARTICLE 7
Exceptions
The provisions of this Agreement relative to
the grant of treatment not less favourable than that accorded
to the nationals or companies of either Contracting Party or of
any third State shall not be construed so as to oblige one Contracting
Party to extend to the nationals or companies of the other the
benefit of any treatment, preference or privilege resulting from:
(a) any existing or future customs union
or similar international agreement to which either of the Contracting
Parties is or may become a party; or
(b) any international agreement or arrangement
relating wholly or mainly to taxation or any domestic legislation
relating wholly or mainly to taxation.
[Preferred]
ARTICLE 8
Reference to International Centre for
Settlement of Investment Disputes
(1) Each Contracting Party hereby consents
to submit to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes (hereinafter referred to as "the Centre") for
settlement by conciliation or arbitration under the Convention
on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals
of Other States opened for signature at Washington on 18 March
1965 any legal dispute arising between that Contracting Party
and a national or company of the other Contracting Party concerning
an investment of the latter in the territory of the former.
(2) A company which is incorporated or constituted
under the law in force in the territory of one Contracting Party
and in which before such a dispute arises the majority of shares
are owned by nationals or companies of the other Contracting Party
shall in accordance with Article 25(2)(b) of the Convention be
treated for the purposes of the Convention as a company of the
other Contracting Party.
(3) If any such dispute should arise and
agreement cannot be reached within three months between the parties
to this dispute through pursuit of local remedies or otherwise,
then, if the national or company affected also consents in writing
to submit the dispute to the Centre for settlement by conciliation
or arbitration under the Convention, either party may institute
proceedings by addressing a request to that effect to the Secretary-General
of the Centre as provided in Articles 28 and 36 of the Convention.
In the event of disagreement as to whether conciliation or arbitration
is the more appropriate procedure the national or company affected
shall have the right to choose. The Contracting Party which is
a party to the dispute shall not raise as an objection at any
stage of the proceedings or enforcement of an award the fact that
the national or company which is the other party to the dispute
has received in pursuance of an insurance contract an indemnity
in respect of some or all of his or its losses.
(4) Neither Contracting Party shall pursue
through the diplomatic channel any dispute referred to the Centre
unless:
(a) the Secretary-General of the Centre,
or a conciliation commission or an arbitral tribunal constituted
by it, decides that the dispute is not within the jurisdiction
of the Centre; or
(b) the other Contracting Party should fail
to abide by or to comply with any award rendered by an arbitral
tribunal.
[Alternative]
ARTICLE 8
Settlement of Disputes between an Investor
and a Host State
(1) Disputes between a national or company
of one Contracting Party and the other Contracting Party concerning
an obligation of the latter under this Agreement in relation to
an investment of the former which have not been amicably settled
shall, after a period of three months from written notification
of a claim, be submitted to international arbitration if the national
or company concerned so wishes.
(2) Where the dispute is referred to international
arbitration, the national or company and the Contracting Party
concerned in the dispute may agree to refer the dispute either
to:
(a) the International Centre for the Settlement
of Investment Disputes (having regard to the provisions, where
applicable, of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment
Disputes between States and Nationals of other States, opened
for signature at Washington DC on 18 March 1965 and the Additional
Facility for the Administration of Conciliation, Arbitration and
Fact-Finding Proceedings); or
(b) the Court of Arbitration of the International
Chamber of Commerce; or
(c) an international arbitrator or ad hoc
arbitration tribunal to be appointed by a special agreement or
established under the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law.
If after a period of three months from written
notification of the claim there is no agreement to one of the
above alternative procedures, the dispute shall at the request
in writing of the national or company concerned be submitted to
arbitration under the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations
Commission on International Trade Law as then in force. The parties
to the dispute may agree in writing to modify these Rules.
ARTICLE 9
Disputes between the Contracting Parties
(1) Disputes between the Contracting Parties
concerning the interpretation or application of this Agreement
should, if possible, be settled through the diplomatic channel.
(2) If a dispute between the Contracting
Parties cannot thus be settled, it shall upon the request of either
Contracting Party be submitted to an arbitral tribunal.
(3) Such an arbitral tribunal shall be constituted
for each individual case in the following way. Within two months
of the receipt of the request for arbitration, each Contracting
Party shall appoint one member of the tribunal. Those two members
shall then select a national of a third State who on approval
by the two Contracting Parties shall be appointed Chairman of
the tribunal. The Chairman shall be appointed within two months
from the date of appointment of the other two members.
(4) If within the periods specified in paragraph
(3) of this Article the necessary appointments have not been made,
either Contracting Party may, in the absence of any other agreement,
invite the President of the International Court of Justice to
make any necessary appointments. If the President is a national
of either Contracting Party or if he is otherwise prevented from
discharging the said function, the Vice-President shall be invited
to make the necessary appointments. If the Vice-President is a
national of either Contracting Party or if he too is prevented
from discharging the said function, the member of the International
Court of Justice next in seniority who is not a national of either
Contracting Party shall be invited to make the necessary appointments.
(5) The arbitral tribunal shall reach its
decision by a majority of votes. Such decision shall be binding
on both Contracting Parties. Each Contracting Party shall bear
the cost of its own member of the tribunal and of its representation
in the arbitral proceedings; the cost of the Chairman and the
remaining costs shall be borne in equal parts by the Contracting
Parties. The tribunal may, however, in its decision direct that
a higher proportion of costs shall be borne by one of the two
Contracting Parties, and this award shall be binding on both Contracting
Parties. The tribunal shall determine its own procedure.
ARTICLE 10
Subrogation
(1) If one Contracting Party or its designated
Agency ("the first Contracting Party") makes a payment
under an indemnity given in respect of an investment in the territory
of the other Contracting Party ("the second Contracting Party"),
the second Contracting Party shall recognise:
(a) the assignment to the first Contracting
Party by law or by legal transaction of all the rights and claims
of the party indemnified; and
(b) that the first Contracting Party is entitled
to exercise such rights and enforce such claims by virtue of subrogation,
to the same extent as the party indemnified.
(2) The first Contracting Party shall be
entitled in all circumstances to the same treatment in respect
of:
(a) the rights and claims acquired by it
by virtue of the assignment, and
(b) any payments received in pursuance of
those rights and claims,
as the party indemnified was entitled to receive
by virtue of this Agreement in respect of the investment concerned
and its related returns.
(3) Any payments received in non-convertible
currency by the first Contracting Party in pursuance of the rights
and claims acquired shall be freely available to the first Contracting
Party for the purpose of meeting any expenditure incurred in the
territory of the second Contracting Party.
ARTICLE 11
Application of other Rules
If the provisions of law of either Contracting
Party or obligations under international law existing at present
or established hereafter between the Contracting Parties in addition
to the present Agreement contain rules, whether general or specific,
entitling investments by nationals or companies of the other Contracting
Party to a treatment more favourable than is provided for by the
present Agreement, such rules shall to the extent that they are
more favourable prevail over the present Agreement.
ARTICLE 12
Territorial Extension
At the time of [signature] [entry into force]
[ratification] of this Agreement, or at any time thereafter, the
provisions of this Agreement may be extended to such territories
for whose international relations the Government of the United
Kingdom are responsible as may be agreed between the Contracting
Parties in an Exchange of Notes.
ARTICLE 13
Entry into Force
[This Agreement shall enter into force on the
day of signature.]
or
[Each Contracting Party shall notify the other
in writing of the completion of the constitutional formalities
required in its territory for the entry into force of this Agreement.
This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the latter
of the two notifications.]
or
[This Agreement shall be ratified and shall
enter into force on the exchange of Instruments of Ratification.]
ARTICLE 14
Duration and Termination
This Agreement shall remain in force for a period
of 10 years. Thereafter it shall continue in force until the expiration
of 12 months from the date on which either Contracting Party shall
have given written notice of termination to the other. Provided
that in respect of investments made whilst the Agreement is in
force, its provisions shall continue in effect with respect to
such investments for a period of 20 years after the date of termination
and without prejudice to the application thereafter of the rules
of general international law.
In witness whereof the undersigned, duly authorised
thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Done in duplicate at this
day of 199..... [in the English and languages, both
texts being equally authoritative].
For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:
| For the Government of:
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