OECD's Multilateral Agreement on Investment

Multilateral Agreement on Investment: A Chinese Perspective makes detailed analyses and comments on the MAI from the perspective of a Chinese scholar. The author believes that the behind closed doors process of MAI negotiations is unacceptable for developing countries, NGOs, and civil societies, and is inadvisable for any future negotiations on investment rules. The substantive contents of the MAI which include the definition of investor and investment, treatment of foreign investors and investments, treatment for investment protection, and the dispute settlement mechanism are of high standards that render them unreachable and unacceptable for developing countries. The nine chapters of the book include: An introduction; An analysis of the background of the MAI negotiations which briefly reviews the process and results of the negotiations and makes the author's comments on the negotiations; An analysis and evaluation of the main features of MAI provisions and the approaches adopted by the MAI; An exploration of the scope of application of the MAI through the analysis of the respective definition of investor and investment in the MAI, and points out that the purpose of broad definition is to broaden the MAI's scope of application; An analysis and comment on the MAI's general principles of treatment accorded to foreign investors and their investments, and points out that the MAI's provisions in this regard have negative impacts on developing countries; An introduction to the MAI's specific rules of treatment accorded to foreign investors and their investments in such new areas of international investment as performance requirements, investment incentives, key personnel, privatization, as well as monopoly, state enterprises and concessions; An analysis and commentary on the MAI's treatment provisions on investment protection, i.e. the fair and equitable treatment and full and constant protection and security treatment as the general treatment, and the specific treatment with regard to expropriation and compensation, protection from strife and transfers; An introduction to and evaluation of the MAI's dispute settlement mechanism: the state-state procedure and the investor-state procedure, and; A conclusion.