bilateral investment treaty

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) are international agreements between two countries establishing the terms and conditions for private investment in each other’s territory by nationals and companies of one country to the other country. Such an investment is categorized as foreign direct investment (FDI). The terms of bilateral investment treaties establish substantive protections, such as clear limits on the expropriation of investments, the procedures that a foreign investor seeks compensation, the right for moving investments into and out of the host country, and the restrictions on practices that a host country could require foreign investors to adopt if they could be inefficient and/or distort trade. Over the past decades, governments around the world have entered into numerous bilateral investment treaties, which contributed to the flourishing of international trade and economy while also creating issues such as trade deficit.

The first generation of these treaties were Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaties (FCNs), which required the host state to treat foreign investments on the same level as investments from any other nation, including in some instances treatment that was as favorable as the host nation treated its own investments. FCNs also established the terms of trade and shipping between the parties , and the rights of foreigners to conduct business and own property in the host nation.

The second generation of these treaties are Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), which set forth actionable standards of conduct that applied to governments in their treatment of investors from other nations, including:

The distinctive feature of many BITs is that it allows for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, whereby an investor whose rights under the BIT have been violated could have recourse to international arbitration , often under the auspices of the ICSID (International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), rather than suing the host State in its own courts.

It is estimated that there are more than 2,500 BITs active in the world today .

See examples:

[Last reviewed in December of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team ]

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