March 9, 2004
During 2003-2004, the U.S. government has engaged in revising its model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and recently produced a draft model BIT. The impact of this model BIT is amplified by the fact that often negotiations between the United States and other governments will conclude by adopting the model unchanged (or with minor changes).
CIEL and other civil society organizations have a number of concerns regarding the investment disciplines introduced to the draft model BIT.
CIEL also participated in discussions hosted by the U.S. State Department’s Subcommittee on Investment that lead to a report regarding the draft model BIT presented to the U.S. State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy (ACIEP).
CIEL, however, was not in agreement with all of the findings in the report, and thus wrote a letter with some additional comments. Read that letter here.
For further questions or comments, contact Marcos A. Orellana: morellana@ciel.org