If the European Union's investment policy is to facilitate investment, it also sets out its conditions: reciprocity and compliance with EU standards. This was what emerged from a presentation by officials of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade to MEPs of the Committee on International Trade (INTA) on 3 September.
Chinese negotiations
As far as bilateral negotiations are concerned, first and foremost, those with China are still struggling to come to fruition, despite the fact that the parties agreed last April (see EUROPE 12232/7) to complete these talks by mid-2020. “It’s not going to be easy”, admitted Carlo Pettinato, head of investment policy at DG Trade. This first comprehensive investment protection agreement aims to rebalance access levels to European investment in China and to replace the 26 existing bilateral investment treaties between Member States and Beijing. The next round of negotiations will take place on 23 September 2019 in Beijing and should focus on improving market access offers.
Overall facilitation
As part of a plurilateral initiative by a group of emerging countries, exploratory discussions have also been initiated at the World Trade Organization (WTO). This would replicate, for investments, the trade facilitation agreement already concluded at the multilateral level (see EUROPE 11731/21), by improving the transparency of investment measures, streamlining and accelerating administrative procedures and stimulating international cooperation, among other things. The parties are still considering which general objectives can be pursued in this context. According to the Commission, results could be achieved as early as the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in June 2020 in Nur Sultan (Kazakhstan). On the European side, a mandate has been put forward to the EU Council by the Commission and should be ratified in September 2019.
Modernization of the ECT
Another area for negotiation is the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which should make it possible to bring its provisions into line with the latest standards for investment protection and investor-State dispute settlement, in particular Opinion 1/17 from the Court of Justice (see EUROPE 12245/3). The Commission expects “challenging” talks, Pettinato admitted, as all parties will have to agree. They should begin in early 2020.
On 15 July, the EU Council adopted a decision giving the Commission a mandate to launch these negotiations (see EUROPE 12296/18).
Investment screening
The Commission and Member States are working together to take the necessary measures to implement the Investment Screening Regulation on 11 October 2020. They need to develop a European cooperation mechanism to exchange secure information and share concerns about certain foreign direct investments (FDI) (see EUROPE 12233/16). A summary note will be presented to the European Parliament, summarising the actions taken by the Commission departments in this regard, announced Mr Pettinato, who also highlighted their excellent and fruitful cooperation with the United States and Japan on the subject.
The EU's investment policy also includes European support for the creation of a Multilateral Investment Court (‘MIC’). While 106 countries are participating in the ongoing discussions under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the EU's main trading partners, Japan and the United States, are still sceptical about the need for a permanent structure, conceded a Commission representative.
Finally, the Commission also highlighted the difficulties it has faced in the EU Council since 2015 in validating the Mauritius Convention on Transparency, which commits its signatories to applying transparency rules in their investment treaties. However, the EU Council is of the opinion that all Member States should give the green light to this Convention - and some Member States are opposed to this ratification. (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)