Treaty Shopping

Double taxation, Nationality, Tax Obligations, Treaty Shopping, UNCTAD

(KPMG Switzerland)/ /Leave a comment

The two worlds are not that apart. In March 2021, UNCTAD released a report which addresses the potential implications of International Investment Agreements (IIAs) for tax-related measures. According to UNCTAD, both the IIAs regime and double taxation treaties (DTTs) address similar challenges, eg. indirect ownership, mailbox companies and time-sensitive restructuring. The report emphasizes that some…

Decision Making, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, Treaty Shopping

(General Editor International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management; Queen Mary University of London), (Queen Mary University of London), and (Three Crowns)/ /3 Comments

Consistent decision-making has been an ongoing concern in the way arbitrators approach the issue of treaty shopping and indirect expropriation. The article of Ozlem Susler and Therese Wilson, “Restoring Balance in Investor State Dispute Settlement: Addressing Treaty Shopping and Indirect Expropriation Claims and Consistent Approaches to Decision-Making” ,1)Published in CIArb’s Academic Journal: International Journal of…

Arbitration, ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, Treaty Shopping

(University of Lausanne, Switzerland)/ /3 Comments

Treaty shopping, also called corporate (re-)structuring, is most often associated with legal persons, in particular mailbox companies. Much discussed in this respect is the practice of “round-tripping” where the investor-claimant is foreign-incorporated, but majority-controlled by natural or legal persons of host State nationality (see e.g. Tokios Tokeles v Ukraine, ICSID Case No. ARB/02/18, Decision on…

BIT, ICSID Convention, International Law, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Jurisdiction, Treaty Shopping

(International Moot Court Competition Association (IMCCA))/ /1 Comment

Akbar the Great once drew with his royal hand a line in the sand. He then told his wise men that if they wanted to keep their jobs, they must invent a way to make the line shorter without touching any part of it. Wise man after wise man approached the line and stood in…