De Meester on International Legal Aspects of Sovereign Wealth Funds
Bart De Meester (Institute for International Law) has posted International Legal Aspects of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Reconciling International Economic Law and the Law of State Immunities with a New Role of the State on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This
contribution addresses the international legal framework for SWFs. The
prominence of the State as an investor challenges the existing rules of
international economic law and of the law of State immunities. With
regard to international economic law, the focus is on the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (‘GATS’), since this is the only
multilateral agreement that has binding rules for investment. The GATS
allows the receiving States to adopt preventive measures that restrict
investments by SWFs, provided specific conditions are complied with.
However, it does not impose restrictions on the activities of the
States that make investment by means of SWFs. Moreover, while
preventive measures are definitely useful, the real challenge occurs at
the moment investments that passed preventive scrutiny turn out to be
problematic. When these investments run counter prudential rules or
endanger the national security interests of the State, the receiving
State may want to intervene. However, the possibility for intervention
may be constrained by rules on State immunity.
Source: Lawrence Solum
