Transparency and International Investment Treaties - Definition and responses

         
Author Name KOTERA Akira (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)
Creation Date/NO. April 2006 06-J-026
Download / Links

Abstract

The issue of transparency is becoming subject to increasing attention in the area of international investment law, as it has in other areas of international law. But what is transparency? What does it mean in the context of international investment law?

Within the sphere of international economic law, the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) was the first to shed light on the issue of transparency, defining it as one of its basic principles. The GATS principle calls for transparency in terms of ensuring public access to the relevant laws, regulations and other information on the investee (host) country. Many other WTO agreements also place a great deal of emphasis on transparency.

read more >>