The Investment Protection Chapter of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement: A Model for the Post-Brexit UK IIAs

Siraj Shaik Aziz Singapore Management University School of Law, 81 Victoria Street, Singapore 188065.
Corresponding Author: siraj.sa.2010@law.smu.edu.sg
ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
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Abstract
The impending British exit (Brexit) from the European Union has placed the UK's investment policy at a crossroads. A post-Brexit UK will now have to reorganise its investment relationships with its economic partners through bespoke UK IIAs. This exercise will have to accommodate the shifting zeitgeist concerning the balance of investors' rights and the right to regulate IIAs that is expected. This paper examines the continued relevance of the recently minted Investment Protection Chapter in the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, acknowledged by Britain's power brokers, as a persuasive model for the UK to emulate for this purpose. This is notwithstanding the uncertainties that now surround the implementation and efficacy of the Agreement in light of Brexit and a pending decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union. Such emulation would ultimately make for a better Investor-State Dispute Settlement System in the UK IIAs by providing a much needed update to its old investment treaty architecture.

Keywords : EUSFTA, Investment Chapter, Brexit, ISDS, Right to Regulate, Code of Conduct, Roster of Arbitrator

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