Bibliographie sélective OHADA

The States, international organizations and interest groups are increasingly concerned with treaty claims of foreign investors, who sometimes seek compensation for the States' legitimate regulatory measures, such as tobacco plain packaging, nuclear energy phase out and environmental regulations. International investment law has yet to develop a comprehensive and predictable framework addressing some of the basis questions related to compensability of legitimate regulatory measures. The thesis carries out a comparative legal analysis to identify the key features of the prohibition of uncompensated expropriation as a general principle of law, and explores the rationale of that principle in political philosophy. Equipped with the results of this analysis, it proceeds to propose an analytical approach addressing practical questions related to the compensatory protection of foreign investments.

This paper analyzes the protection of Foreign Direct Investments in the OHADA area, specifically, its regulation by the Treaty of Organization and Harmonization in Africa of Business Law (OHADA Treaty). It is to restore legal and judicial security within their scope that OHADA member countries have undertaken to harmonize and unify their economic sector legislation to attract foreign investment as a factor in economic development. Several national and international legal instruments are responsible for the protection of foreign direct investment in OHADA countries. Indeed, the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries increased considerably during the 1990s; As Africa is now one of the favorite destinations for Western and even African investors, it is becoming a very profitable continent for investors. However, the issue of regulating or securing foreign investment in African countries is still flawed. The establishment of OHADA, in a way, is in the same direction; if we stick to the purpose of the organization prescribed in paragraph 5 of the preamble to the OHADA Treaty, which states that the purpose of the OHADA law is to "promote the growth of economic activity and encourage investment." Unfortunately, this objective remains only an announcement of the preamble to the Treaty, because of the definition of business law given by Article 2 of that treaty. However, the list of subjects is not exhaustive, investment remains absent. Thus, foreign investment is not regulated by the OHADA Treaty, so even investment-related activities are held by other subjects (corporate law, commercial law, and security law). The omission of FDI in the scope of the OHADA Treaty leads us to raise the question of its regulation.This work proposes a reflection that the OHADA Treaty should be modernized through reform including investment and many other issues to deal effectively with the issue of foreign investment given the ineffectiveness of national and sub-regional instruments in this area.

The attributability of actions to states within the context of investment treaty disputes and to focus on the roles played by international and domestic laws in such attributions have caught the attention of jurists in recent years. The ILC Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, and particularly, article 3 points to the main outcome of this debate, where it does not consider domestic law irrelevant in internationally wrongful acts and stipulates that the issue is subject to international law and it will take into account the relevance of domestic law. Thus, although the characterization of an act of a State as internationally wrongful is an independent function of international law and such characterization is not affected by the characterization of the same act as lawful by domestic law, it does not mean that domestic law is irrelevant to such description; on the contrary, it may be related in various ways. The present article attempts to examine the challenging junction of domestic and international law with regard to the attributability of actions taken within the framework of investment treaties, specifically by state-owned and para-statal entities that exercise elements of state authority. قابلیت انتساب عمل به دولت در چارچوب اختلافات معاهده‌ سرمایه‌گذاری و تمرکز بر نقش‌هایی که حقوق بین‌الملل و حقوق داخلی در چنین انتسابی ایفا ‌می‌نمایند در زمره‌ مباحثی است که در سال‌های اخیر بسیار مورد ‌توجه حقوقدانان بوده و ماده 3 مواد کمیسیون حقوق بین‌الملل در ارتباط با مسئولیت دولت‌ها نیز بیانگر پیامد اصلی این بحث است که فی‌الواقع، حقوق داخلی را با مسأله متخلفانه بودن اعمال از حیث بین‌المللی بی‌ارتباط تلقی ‌ننموده، بلکه مقرر ‌می‌دارد مسئله مورد بحث، تابع حقوق بین‌الملل است لیکن حقوق بین‌الملل نیز خود تا حدِ ارتباط، حقوق داخلی را در نظر خواهد گرفت. بنابراین اگرچه توصیف خصوصیات یک عمل به عنوان عملی غیرقانونی از عملکردهای مستقل حقوق بین‌الملل است که تحت ‌تأثیر توصیف خصوصیات این عمل بموجب حقوق داخلی قرار نمی‌گیرد لیکن این گفته بدین معنی نیست که حقوق داخلی با توصیف عمل متخلفانه‌ بین‌المللی بی‌ارتباط ‌است؛ بالعکس، ممکن ‌است به طرق مختلفی به آن مرتبط‌ باشد. در این مقاله سعی بر‌ آن است که تلاقی چالش‌برانگیز حقوق داخلی و حقوق بین‌الملل در بحث قابلیت انتساب اعمال ‌صورت ‌گرفته در چارچوب معاهدات سرمایه‌گذاری توسط ارگان‌های دولتی و نهادهای نیمه‌دولتی که عناصر اختیارات دولتی را اعمال می‌نمایند مورد واکاوی قرار‌ گیرد.

Patents are considered as investments protected under the International Investment Law. Although, these properties are protected under the principle of territoriality, similar to other investments, they can be expropriated as a result of host states’ regulatory measures inconsistent with protection standards stemming from foreign investment protection regulations and treaties including fair and equitable treatment and legitimate expectations of foreign investors. Considering the fact that few arbitration awards have been issued by arbitration panels in this regard, it is yet difficult to claim there is a strong precedent in International Investment Law. Nevertheless, reflecting the provisions of international regulations, the stance of the domestic law and the most important relevant case, this article provides the most significant elements of indirect expropriation as well as existing doctrines in this respect and further investigates whether invalidation of patents can amount to indirect expropriation. It will also be mentioned that despite the fact that according to several foreign investment protection treaties, invalidation of patents shall not be subject to regulations regarding indirect or creeping expropriation, the final determination lies with the arbitration panel. یکی از مصادیق سرمایه‌گذاری خارجی مورد حمایت در حقوق بین‌الملل سرمایه‌گذاری، اختراعات است. این دسته از دارایی‌ها علی‌رغم به رسمیت شناخته شدن در پرتو اصل سرزمینی بودن حمایت، همانند سایر سرمایه‌گذاری‌ها می‌توانند تحت تدابیر حاکمیتی دول میزبان که مغایر با استانداردهای حمایتی نشأت گرفته از قوانین و معاهدات بین‌المللی حمایت از سرمایه‌گذاری خارجی همچون شرط رفتار عادلانه و منصفانه و صیانت از انتظارات مشروع و معقول سرمایه‌گذار می‌باشند، با خطراتی همچون سلب مالکیت مواجه شوند. نظر به صدور آرای معدود مراجع بین‌المللی در این خصوص، سخن گفتن از شکل‌گیری رویه‌ای متقن در این راستا دشوار می‌باشد. با این حال، در این نوشتار ضمن بررسی مهمترین عناصر متشکله سلب مالکیت غیرمستقیم و دکترین‌های موجود در این زمینه، به بررسی قابلیت تطبیق ابطال گواهی ثبت اختراع با سلب مالکیت غیرمستقیم پرداخته و با تشریح مقررات برخی اسناد بین‌المللی، موضع حقوق داخلی و مهم‌ترین پرونده مربوط به این موضوع در حقوق سرمایه‌گذاری خارجی در ابعاد گوناگون آن مداقه نموده و در نهایت به این نتیجه خواهیم رسید که حتی در صورت مستثنی نمودن ابطال گواهی ثبت اختراع از مقررات مربوط به سلب مالکیت در معاهدات حمایت از سرمایه‌گذاری خارجی، تشخیص نهایی تحقق سلب مالکیت با دیوان داوری است.

Le principe de proportionnalité a été récemment reconnu dans les traités et les accords internationaux du commerce et des investissements avec l’État. Cependant, peu d'études se concentrent sur la nature juridique, le contenu, la portée et les fonctions de ce principe dans le droit économique international. Cette thèse présente une analyse actuelle et détaillée sur ces questions.

Le présent rapport prône l’adoption de mesures de lutte contre la COVID concernant tout particulièrement la politique d’investissement soutenue par l’Accord portant création de la Zone de libre-échange continentale africaine afin de préserver les acquis du marché commun pour les entreprises et les citoyens africains et d’accroître les avantages en découlant. La Zone de libre-échange continentale africaine (ZLECAf) contribuera à générer les ressources financières nécessaires au développement économique de l’Afrique. Elle a pour objet de mettre en place un marché africain intégré où les biens, les personnes, les services et les capitaux circulent librement, complétant les efforts d’intégration régionale au profit des 1,3 milliard d’habitants du continent. Le produit intérieur brut combiné du marché de la ZLECAf est de 2 500 milliards de dollars. Elle a officiellement vu le jour le 21 mars 2018 à Kigali, date à laquelle 44 États membres de l’Union africaine ont signé l’Accord portant création de la Zone de libre-échange continentale africaine. L’Accord est entré en vigueur le 30 mai 2019 après le dépôt de l’instrument de ratification par le 22ème État membre de l’UA. La ZLECAf est entrée dans sa phase opérationnelle en juillet 2019. Les échanges régis par les règles de la ZLECAf ont débuté le 1er janvier 2021.

Responsible investment (RI) is the investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into the investment decision-making process (Hebb, Hawley, Hoepner, Neher, & Wood, 2015). RI has shifted from what was considered a niche market to become one of the fastest-growing areas of finance in many parts of the world (PRI, 2019b). However, a closer look at the development of RI and adoption rates in countries and regions reveals that RI is not commonly practised in sub-Sahara Africa (except for South Africa). This study explores the critical challenges for RI development in the retirement benefits sector of Kenya and, by engaging with a variety of key stakeholders, proposes how to overcome the identified challenges. It contributes to the literature on challenges for RI in a developing country by offering an in-depth case study of the retirement benefits sector.My study employs qualitative methods to collect and analyse data collected from semi-structured interviews with 22 participants (asset managers, regulators and capital market experts, and a council member of the Association of Retirement Benefits Schemes of Kenya) as well as a collection of published documents by government agencies in Kenya. Also, I analysed 10 annual reports to assess the kind of ESG information that is disclosed by listed companies. My study explores, in particular, how actors in the retirement benefits sector conceptualise RI. It identifies the leading ESG factors in Kenya and draws on the business-case approach to RI to explore whether the participants consider those factors as material risk factors that present both risks and opportunities to the investment decision-making process. Further, my study identifies the specific barriers for RI development and proposes how to overcome them. The findings show that participants define RI using several terminologies. This is consistent with the existing literature. My study finds that all participants consider corporate governance as a material risk factor that can impact the financial returns of a portfolio. However, most of the asset managers do not think that the environmental and social factors can present material risk factors to their investment decision-making process. Although over a third of the asset managers recognise that the environmental and social issues in Kenya present business opportunities to retirement benefits schemes, there is a shortage of well-structured assets in those areas. Further, this study identifies five specific barriers for RI development: diversification challenges; a lack of ESG data; a lack of demand/incentives; short-termism; and the demand for high financial returns and a lack of awareness and expert knowledge of RI practices. My study recommends that the National Treasury of Kenya develops RI policy for the entire finance sector. In addition, the findings support a recommendation for the Capital Markets Authority and the Retirement Benefits Authority to embark on capacity building programmes to educate the actors in the finance sector on RI strategies and to create awareness of the impact of ESG on financial returns in the long run.