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Chinese Resource-For-Infrastructure (Rfi) Investments In Sub-Saharan Africa And The Future Of The "Rules-Based" Framework For Sovereign Finance: The Sicomines Case Study, Jingwei Xu
Michigan Journal of International Law
China has emerged as sub-Saharan Africa’s largest development financier over the past two decades. While commentators have observed novel, sui generis transactional structures in China’s financing arrangements, legal analysis of those contractual forms and their relationships to incumbent international economic governance regimes remains scant. This note addresses those scholarly lacunae, taking as its case study the 2008 Sicomines Agreement—a multi-billion USD investment financing agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and various Chinese corporate entities that merges infrastructure investment with a mineral extraction joint-venture project. It demonstrates that the Sicomines Agreement selectively draws on and integrates pre-existing modes of …
Intellectual Property: A Beacon For Reform Of Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Daniel Gervais
Intellectual Property: A Beacon For Reform Of Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Daniel Gervais
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article attempts to resolve clashes between intellectual property and investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS”). ISDS clauses contained in bilateral, plurilateral, or multilateral trade and investment agreements give multinational investors (corporations) a right to sue a state in a binding proceeding before an independent arbitral tribunal. This jurisgenerative right to file a claim against a state in an international tribunal with mandatory jurisdiction is exceptional; it is generally reserved to other states. Only multinational corporations can use ISDS to file claims against states in which they invest, provided the state is party to a bilateral investment treaty (“BIT”) or a trade …
Multipolarity, Intellectual Property, And The Internationalization Of Public Health Law, Sam F. Halabi
Multipolarity, Intellectual Property, And The Internationalization Of Public Health Law, Sam F. Halabi
Michigan Journal of International Law
The cause of global health today is arguably the most influential human rights movement ever seen, mobilizing vast flows of direct and indirect aid to the developing world to fight disease and build health care infrastructure; prompting the establishment of international organizations like UNAIDS and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund); including global health as a priority in major diplomatic summits; and driving the formation and implementation of international agreements to address global health threats. Champions of this movement claim that the diverse and influential state and non-state actors participating in the development of the …
The Boundaries Of Most Favored Nation Treatment In International Investment Law, Tony Cole
The Boundaries Of Most Favored Nation Treatment In International Investment Law, Tony Cole
Michigan Journal of International Law
Contemporary international investment law is characterized by fragmentation. Disputes are heard by a variety of tribunals, which often are constituted solely for the purpose of hearing a single claim. The law applicable in a dispute is usually found in a bilateral agreement, applicable only between the two states connected to the dispute, rather than in a multilateral treaty or customary international law. Moreover, the international investment community itself is profoundly divided on many issues of substantive law, meaning both that the interpretation given to international investment law by a tribunal will be determined largely by those who sit on it, …
Supporting Sustained Economic Development, Steven Radelet
Supporting Sustained Economic Development, Steven Radelet
Michigan Journal of International Law
There is no magic formula for sustained economic development in poor countries. Strategies that succeed in one country may not be appropriate in another. Yet there are several broad similarities across the countries that have been most successful in achieving development over the past forty years. This Article takes a very broad overview of economic development in low-income countries over this period and makes three basic points.
Investment Protection In Bilateral And Free Trade Agreements: Implications For The Granting Of Compulsory Licenses, Carlos M. Correa
Investment Protection In Bilateral And Free Trade Agreements: Implications For The Granting Of Compulsory Licenses, Carlos M. Correa
Michigan Journal of International Law
Can the exercise of any of the key provisions in investment agreements lead to rights and practices that deviate from the terms of the TRIPS Agreement? This issue is specifically explored in relation to compulsory licenses, one of the "safeguards" contemplated in the TRIPS Agreement that developing countries have actively tried to preserve in order to mitigate the powers conferred to patent owners. Despite this attention and interest, no single compulsory license has been granted in a developing country after the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement. This article explores the extent to which investment protection may add another barrier for …
Inordinate Chill: Bits, Non-Nafta Mits, And Host-State Regulatory Freedom- An Indonesian Case Study, Stuart G. Gross
Inordinate Chill: Bits, Non-Nafta Mits, And Host-State Regulatory Freedom- An Indonesian Case Study, Stuart G. Gross
Michigan Journal of International Law
A number of structural factors, which are beyond the immediate scope of this Note, may influence less wealthy countries to cave in to investor threats of arbitration, as Indonesia appears to have done here. However, their hesitancy to fight may also be based, in part, on an inadequate understanding of the applicable law, which allows investors to inordinately influence host-State decisions through threats of arbitration that have little or no chance of success. In regard to the mining companies' threat, this at least appears to be the case. As this Note will demonstrate, the GOI could have likely beaten the …
Labor Rights, Globalization And Institutions: The Role And Influence Of The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, James Salzman
Labor Rights, Globalization And Institutions: The Role And Influence Of The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development, James Salzman
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article has four sections. The first recounts the history of the OECD, from its creation as the overseer of the Marshall Plan to its current prominence as global economic analyst, and explains its operations. The second section explores its influence on the development of labor rights, examining the well-known OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, publications on trade and labor by the Employment, Labor and Social Affairs Directorate, and the events surrounding South Korea's accession to the OECD. Each of these activities, though quite different from one another (and, in combination, very different from the activities of other IGOs), provided …
U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Second Wave, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
U.S. Bilateral Investment Treaties: The Second Wave, Kenneth J. Vandevelde
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article describes and appraises the second wave of negotiations. It functions as a sequel to an earlier article that described the first ten years of the program. Although the second wave of negotiations continues, and thus any conclusions about it necessarily are tentative, the second wave already has developed a variety of characteristics that distinguish it from the first wave. The goal of this Article is to identify the ways in which the second wave appears to differ from the first and to assess the significance of the differences.
Negotiating Investment In The Gatt: A Call For Functionalism, Paul Bryan Christy Iii
Negotiating Investment In The Gatt: A Call For Functionalism, Paul Bryan Christy Iii
Michigan Journal of International Law
In part, this article is about the conflict between literalism and functionalism in the GATT. It examines an attempt in the Uruguay Round to negotiate rules on foreign direct investment - the so-called trade-related investment measures (TRIMs) negotiations. Foreign direct investment is often a stage in the internationalization of enterprises; it is helpful to the trade of goods producers and necessary to the trade of many services providers. Affected by the output-oriented history of the GATT, however, the Contracting Parties have treated investment as though it were simply one of three legs of an economic triangle: goods, services, investment. In …
International Trade And Investment Regulation: Developing Jurisprudence In Taiwan, Paul S.P. Hsu
International Trade And Investment Regulation: Developing Jurisprudence In Taiwan, Paul S.P. Hsu
Michigan Journal of International Law
Past and present economic development in the Republic of China has provided a model for a successful experiment whereby a society under a workable economic and social system with very limited natural resources makes the most of what it has. Yet, the momentum of the development will not permit the R.O.C. to rest at its present stage or to reminisce about past achievements. Clearly, many more stages of economic development lie ahead. Other industrially advanced nations that operate under similar limitations, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, have higher per capita income, better quality of life, and a more …
Regulation And Liberalization Of Imports And Foreign Investment And The Role Of Trade Actions In The Republic Of Korea, David A. Laverty
Regulation And Liberalization Of Imports And Foreign Investment And The Role Of Trade Actions In The Republic Of Korea, David A. Laverty
Michigan Journal of International Law
The Republic of Korea is well-known for its exceptionally successful export-driven economy and for the role of the Korean government in actively pursuing policies which have fostered the growth of Korean industry and the penetration of Korean products in the international marketplace. This rapid penetration of Korean products has been a source of tension among Korea's trading partners as they have sought to respond to calls from their domestic-industry constituencies for protection from the increased importation of Korean products. However, less well-known and of increasing significance to Korea itself and to the international community is not the outflow of Korean …
Regulation Of Imports And Foregn Investment In The United States On National Security Grounds, David Scott Nance, Jessica Wasserman
Regulation Of Imports And Foregn Investment In The United States On National Security Grounds, David Scott Nance, Jessica Wasserman
Michigan Journal of International Law
Traditionally, concerns over the effects of trade and investment on national security have centered upon the transfer of products and technologies with potential military uses. However, national security concerns also arise with respect to the economic and military impact of imports and of foreign acquisition of domestic assets. The United States has a longstanding statute, section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, that allows the President to restrict imports of goods on national security grounds. More recently, another statute, popularly referred to as the Exon-Florio Act, provides the President with authority to bar the acquisition of United States …
Investment Incentives And Guarantees In The Republic Of China, The Republic Of Korea, Thailand, And The People's Republic Of China, Barbara J. Martin
Investment Incentives And Guarantees In The Republic Of China, The Republic Of Korea, Thailand, And The People's Republic Of China, Barbara J. Martin
Michigan Journal of International Law
This note will focus on direct investment in four countries in Southeast Asia: the Republic of China (ROC), the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea), Thailand, and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Despite similar goals, these four countries differ significantly in their treatment of foreign investors.
The Impact Of Industrial Legislation On The Behavior Of Multinational Enterprises And Labor In The Industrializing Countries Of East And Southeast Asia, Kojo Yelpaala
Michigan Journal of International Law
The phenomenon of industrial legislation is not new in the world. Several industrialized, non-industrialized, capitalist, and socialist countries all have at different stages in their development used industrial legislation for the achievement of industrial goals, development targets and national welfare objectives. This legislation has generally addressed labor relations, taxes, plant location, exchange controls, and capital controls. What is perhaps new is its focus on the behavior of Multinational Enterprises (MNE). The emergence of the MNE on the world economic scene has introduced an elusive but important element in the industrial policy calculus of nations.
United Kingdom Regulation Of Transnational Corporate Concentration, J. Denys Gribbin
United Kingdom Regulation Of Transnational Corporate Concentration, J. Denys Gribbin
Michigan Journal of International Law
This article begins by describing the United Kingdom's policy toward outward and inward direct investment and then sets out the essentials of the competition laws that are among the major, nondiscriminatory regulatory mechanisms that affect corporate behavior and planning. The article also analyzes the development of competition policy as a microeconomic instrument along with its application to monopoly, oligopoly, and cartels involving transnational corporations. Competition policy, except for cartels, is shown to be relatively benign toward mergers until recently, and with respect to monopoly and oligopoly has sought remedies in regulation of prices and behavior rather than through structural change. …
Canadian Merger Policy And Its International Implications, Eric K. Gressman
Canadian Merger Policy And Its International Implications, Eric K. Gressman
Michigan Journal of International Law
The implications of Canadian merger policy are of deep concern to U.S. and other foreign investors who have invested or are considering investing in Canada. U.S. interests own 60 percent of Canada's manufacturing industry. In 1978, approximately 250 mergers in Canada involved a foreign-owned or foreign-controlled buyer (usually U.S.). Therefore, it is not surprising that Canada's merger policy is no less important to the decisions of foreign investors in Canada than the Justice Department's policies are to domestic investors in the United States. At the same time, the Canadian government and public are concerned with their merger policy as a …
Regulation Of Concentration Through Merger Control: Germany's Continuing Efforts, Kurt Stockmann
Regulation Of Concentration Through Merger Control: Germany's Continuing Efforts, Kurt Stockmann
Michigan Journal of International Law
The Federal Republic of Germany's Law Against Restraints on Competition (the ARC), establishes an extensive regime for regulating market-dominating enterprises. Therefore, large corporations, both national and multinational, are the subject of particular scrutiny in the Federal Republic. Rather than identify and address all the provisions pertinent to corporate concentration (a task whose tedium would be matched only by its enormity), this analysis will undertake three tasks: (1) briefly describe the general scope of West German merger law, (2) discuss the application of the law to cases of transnational concentration, and (3) explain the proposed Fourth Amendment to the ARC as …
Regulating Multinational Corporate Concentration-The European Economic Community, John Temple Lang
Regulating Multinational Corporate Concentration-The European Economic Community, John Temple Lang
Michigan Journal of International Law
It is the purpose of this article to discuss the policies and goals of the efforts of the European Communities to regulate multinational corporate concentration. For reasons that will become clear in the course of the article, it is necessary to start by outlining the means available to the European Communities, both presently and potentially, to promote these policies. It is not possible to see what those policies might be or how they are likely to develop without understanding the practical implications of the various legal rules on which the Community might rely in the future. This article does not …
Supranational Regulation Of Transnational Corporations: The Unctad And Ctc Efforts, James D. Kurek
Supranational Regulation Of Transnational Corporations: The Unctad And Ctc Efforts, James D. Kurek
Michigan Journal of International Law
The focus of this article is the current United Nations’ efforts designed to influence the activities of transnational corporations (TNCs) and other participants in the foreign investment arena, with special attention being given to those provisions which deal with concentration. The efforts to be discussed are primarily centered in the U. N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the U. N. Economic and Social Council's Commission on Transnational Corporations (CTC). Since the approach and methods employed by these two bodies differ in several significant respects, each will be considered separately. The concluding discussion examines a variety of views on …