ABSTRACT
Investment protection is one of the topics being discussed in the EU–Canada CETA negotiations (see the Joint Report 2009; de Mestral 2009). Until fairly recently it was mainly the EU member states that negotiated and concluded International Investment Agreements/Bilateral Investment Treaties (IIAs/BITs). Before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EC competences for investment treaty-making were limited. The Commission had nevertheless been heading towards a broad and proactive approach on this issue for quite some time (see Hindelang and Maydell 2010, and Nowak 2010). The EU was making efforts in developing its own foreign investment promotion and protection policy by including rules on investment in Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) as well as by setting up its own “EU Minimum Platform on Investment” (MPoI). With the entry into force of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, multiple questions resulting from a new division of competences between the EU and its member states in the area of international investment policy need to be answered. The EU has made first proposals in a so-called “Transition Regulation” and a “Communication Towards a comprehensive European international investment policy” in July 2010, on how to deal with the current situation comprising approximately 1,300 existent member state BITs. The necessary discussions are finally moving forward. This chapter seeks to lay out some general aspects of future EU investment policies that are also relevant for the ongoing CETA negotiations.
