The Legal Regime of Foreign Private Investment in Sudan and Saudi Arabia

by Fath El Rahman Abdalla El Sheikh

• ISBN13: 9780521817721
• ISBN10: 0521817722
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Developing countries require foreign investment for growth; yet in the existing economic order, investors often come across a range of obstacles. This revised edition draws on the author's experience both as a legal academic and international investment lawyer to detail the interaction between new and traditional understandings of investment insurance. This comparative study of two countries with similar ethnic, religious and social backgrounds - the Sudan and Saudi Arabia - considers how international and Islamic law have evolved in new directions in the post Soviet years. He considers the rules, both at the domestic and the international level, for the protection and promotion of foreign investments, as well as the incentives and facilities provided for foreign investors. He also details investment treaties, national, regional and international investment insurance programmes, and remedies for aggrieved investors. Of interest to legal academics as well as business and legal professionals involved with investment in developing countries.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Preface to the first edition	x
Abbreviations	xiv
Glossary of Arabic words used	xviii
Table of cases	xix
Table of statutes	xxii
Table of treaties	xxvii
PART I Certain preliminary issues
Foreign investment in politico-economic perspective	3	(23)
The new trends in the international investment climate	3	(4)
Investment patterns in the international investment climate	7	(2)
The role of international organizations in improving the investment climate	9	(2)
Sudanese and Saudi Arabian foreign investment policies	11	(12)
Conclusions	23	(3)
Prerequisites for the admission of investments	26	(29)
What investments are eligible?	26	(12)
Where to invest in Sudan and Saudi Arabia	38	(4)
Entry visas and residence and work permits	42	(2)
How to invest	44	(9)
Conclusions	53	(2)
Impediments to foreign investment	55	(30)
Introduction	55	(1)
Socioeconomic impediments	56	(5)
State measures affecting the investment climate	61	(13)
Commercial law	74	(3)
Translation	77	(1)
Conclusions and reform	77	(8)
PART II Encouragement and protection: form and content
Legal incentives	85	(29)
Introduction	85	(1)
Tax holidays	85	(4)
Depreciation allowance	89	(1)
Relief from customs duties	89	(3)
Other incentives	92	(2)
Double taxation treaties	94	(5)
Critical evaluation	99	(6)
The Encouragement of the National, Arab and Foreign Investment Draft Bill, 1978	105	(4)
The Encouragement of Investment Act, 1980	109	(2)
Conclusions	111	(3)
Unilateral guarantees	114	(29)
Introduction	114	(1)
Guarantee against expropriation, nationalization and similar measures	114	(21)
Guarantee of permission to transfer profits and capital abroad	135	(3)
The effectiveness of constitutional and legislative promises	138	(3)
Conclusions	141	(2)
Investment treaties: bilateral and multilateral	143	(53)
Introduction	143	(1)
Standard of treatment of foreign investment in state practice and international law	144	(8)
Bilateral treaties	152	(6)
Multilateral conventions	158	(26)
The nature and effect of treaty obligation	184	(8)
Conclusions	192	(4)
Investment insurance programmes	196	(67)
Purpose and scope	196	(1)
Certain issues raised by investment insurance under international law	197	(5)
National programmes of investment insurance against political risks	202	(25)
Regional investment insurance schemes	227	(13)
International investment insurance schemes	240	(20)
Concluding observations	260	(3)
Assessment of compensation	263	(43)
Reparation, compensation and restitutio in integrum distinguished	263	(4)
Orthodox view on compensation	267	(7)
Methods of valuation	274	(6)
Standard of valuation under Sudan municipal law and practice	280	(9)
Compensation agreements	289	(5)
Practical problems	294	(3)
The Technical Committee for Revising the Confiscation Measures	297	(2)
Comparative evaluation	299	(2)
The existing standards of compensation	301	(3)
Conclusions	304	(2)
Economic development agreements	306	(67)
Introduction	306	(1)
Nature and functions of economic development agreements	306	(5)
Validity of economic development agreements	311	(2)
Law governing economic agreements	313	(17)
The legal effect of economic development agreements	330	(17)
Alteration or abrogation of development agreements	347	(3)
The nature of breach of contract	350	(1)
Remedies for breach of state contract	351	(8)
Important issues	359	(9)
Conclusions	368	(5)
PART III Remedies
Settlement of investment disputes	373	(58)
Introduction	373	(2)
Settlement under municipal laws	375	(13)
Diplomatic intervention, good offices and mediation	388	(7)
International Court of Justice	395	(4)
Arbitration	399	(26)
Enforcement of judgements and awards	425	(4)
Conclusions	429	(2)
Unilateral sanctions by home states	431	(8)
Freezing of foreign-owned assets	431	(2)
Complaint to international organizations	433	(1)
Boycott	433	(1)
The use of armed force	434	(2)
Suspension of economic aid	436	(1)
Legality of unilateral sanctions	437	(2)
General appraisal	439	(7)
Notes	446	(83)
Select bibliography	529	(17)
Index	546