Law Commons^™

The Regulation Of Investment In The Tpp - Towards A Defining International Agreement For The Asia-Pacific Region, Julien Chaisse

Julien Chaisse

The TPP investment chapter resembles in large measure the more recent US IIAs rather than the 1995 text of NAFTA Chapter 11. In a nutshell, the TPP investment chapter does not offer major innovations in terms of treaty drafting. However, the TPP crystallizes most recent innovations since 2001 in terms of NAFTA interpreting notes and also reflects developments in arbitral case-law. The normative quality and geographic scope of the TPP, however, places the agreement among the most detailed and important investment treaties. In this light, it is possible to return to the question raised in the beginning of this chapter …

Renegotiating Investment Contracts: The Case Of Mining Contracts In Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Lukanda F. Kapwadi

Francky Lukanda

This article examines the issue of renegotiating an existing investment contract which does not provide for renegotiation clause. A prevailing theory in this respect asserts that a claim for renegotiating an existing agreement which contains no renegotiation clause should be disregarded as it amounts to an undue interference. This article addresses the question whether a contract concluded with unelected government or leaders of military factions in contravention to prevalent laws should escape revision. In particular, it assesses the rules and principles pertaining to renegotiation of an existing agreement against the Congolese process of renegotiation which involved over sixty mining contracts.

The Citizen Shareholder: Modernizing The Agency Paradigm To Reflect How And Why A Majority Of Americans Invest In The Market, Anne Tucker

Anne Tucker

This Article examines corporate law from the perspective of personal investment and discusses the economic realities of modern investments in order to understand the role of shareholders within the agency paradigm. Corporate law, its scholars, and suggested reforms traditionally focus on the internal organization of the corporation. For example, agency principles inform corporate law by acknowledging a potential conflict of interest between the managers and shareholders of a corporation. Reforms such as increased shareholder voting rights and proxy access, which seek to give shareholders a more direct means to make their interests known to managers, illustrate corporate law’s focus on …

Renewable Energy: Where We Are Now And How Renewable Energy Investment And Development Can Be Expanded, Kevin M. Walsh

Kevin M Walsh

The renewable energy field is currently stifled because many renewable energy developments require tax equity investors to provide additional funds to get the project off the ground and running. The Code provides tax credits to incentivize investors to invest. Currently, the Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) is the only available credit left for renewable projects placed in service from 2014 on. Tax credits are a step in the right direction to encourage renewable investment; however, the credits are limited in application mostly to large financial institutions. Moreover, investments into one specific renewable energy project can be risky because there is no …

Limits Of Disclosure, Steven M. Davidoff, Claire A. Hill

Steven Davidoff Solomon

One big focus of attention, criticism, and proposals for reform in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis has been securities disclosure. Many commentators have emphasized the complexity of the securities being sold, arguing that no one could understand the disclosure. Some observers have noted that disclosures were sometimes false or incomplete. What follows these issues, to some commentators, is that, whatever other lessons we may learn from the crisis, we need to improve disclosure. How should it be improved? Commentators often lament the frailties of human understanding, notably including those of everyday retail investors—people who do not understand or …

What Role Can An International Financial Centre’S Law Play In The Development Of A Sunrise Industry? The Case Of Hong Kong And Solar Powered Investments, Bryane Michael

Bryane Michael (bryane.michael@stcatz.ox.ac.uk)

How can international financial centres like Hong Kong increase assets under management – and thus their size and ranking? Most policymakers and their advisors wrongly answer this question by focusing on financial institutions, and the law that governs them. Instead, policymakers need to start by looking at actual markets. What new tastes and technologies need funding? How can such funding fit into already existing geographies of production, distribution and finance? In this paper, we show how a focus on funding sunrise industries can help increase assets under management for the financial institutions operating in an international financial centre like Hong …

Assessing Hong Kong As An International Financial Centre, Bryane Michael

Bryane Michael (bryane.michael@stcatz.ox.ac.uk)

How can Hong Kong hope to catch up to London and New York as an international financial centre? Close ties with the Mainland result in financial fragility which could decrease Hong Kong's prospects as a financial centre in the longer term. In this paper, we review Hong Kong's dependence on the Mainland's economy. We provide 21 recommendations for strengthening Hong Kong's banking and securities markets.

Objectives-Based Twin-Peaks Financial Regulation In Hong Kong, Bryane Michael, Say Goo, Dariusz Wojick

Bryane Michael (bryane.michael@stcatz.ox.ac.uk)

Objectives-based legislation – or laws which focus on achieving particular and concrete outcomes – has become a new and important tool that financial sector regulators use to tackle large and varied financial system risks. Yet, objectives-based legislation – and the frequent principles-based regulation underpinned by such legislation – represents a stark departure from traditional ways of legislating. In this paper, we describe the problems and prospects of implementing objectives-based financial regulation in Hong Kong – in the form of a Twin Peaks regulatory structure. A focus on the objectives of achieving financial market stability and proper market conduct would require …

Reform Of Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Lessons From International Uniform Law, Joshua D H Karton

Joshua Karton

This article argues that significant improvements in the quality and consistency of decision-making in investor-state arbitration can be achieved without taking such drastic (and possibly unachievable) steps as creating a global appellate body or standing international investment court, or enacting a new treaty that codifies the substantive obligations of international investment law for all signatory states. The article draws on the experience of the international uniform law movement to suggest realistic and achievable steps that could nevertheless be effective.

Although investor-state arbitration and uniform law are not entirely analogous, they do share some important similarities. In particular, they share the …