Armenia - Belarus BIT (2001)

• Parties: 1. Armenia; 2. Belarus
• Treaty type: Bilateral Investment Treaties
• Status: In force
• Date of signature: 26/05/2001
• Date of entry into force: 10/02/2002
• Treaty full text: ru
• IIA content: Mapped

Relationships with other agreements

Type	Agreement
Coexists with	CIS Investor Rights Convention (1997)
Coexists with	Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union (2014)
Coexists with	The Energy Charter Treaty (1994)

Mapped treaty elements

Preamble

• Reference to right to regulate (e.g. regulatory autonomy, policy space, flexibility to introduce new regulations): No
• Reference to sustainable development: No
• Reference to social investment aspects (e.g. human rights, labour, health, CSR, poverty reduction): No
• Reference to environmental aspects (e.g. plant or animal life, biodiversity, climate change): No

Scope and Definitions

• Definition of investment
  • Type of definition: Asset-based definition
  • Limitations to the definition of investment
    • Excludes portfolio investment: No
    • Excludes other specific assets (e.g. sovereign debt, ordinary commercial transactions, etc.): No
    • Lists required characteristics of investment: No
    • Contains "in accordance with host State laws" requirement: Yes
    • Sets out closed (exhaustive) list of covered assets: No
• Definition of investor
  • Definition included: Yes
  • Specifying natural persons covered
    • Includes permanent residents: No
    • Excludes dual nationals: No
  • Specifying legal entities covered
    • Includes requirement of substantial business activity: No
    • Defines ownership and control of legal entities: No
• Denial of benefits (DoB)
  • DoB clause included: No
  • Content of the DoB clause
    • "Substantive business operations" criterion: Not applicable
    • Applies to investors from States with no diplomatic relations or under economic/trade restrictions: Not applicable
    • Discretionary ("Party may deny") or mandatory ("benefits shall be denied"): Not applicable
• Substantive scope of the treaty
  • Limiting substantive scope of the treaty
    • Excludes taxation: No
    • Excludes subsidies, grants: No
    • Excludes government procurement: No
    • Excludes other subject matter: No
• Temporal scope of the treaty
  • Investments covered: Applies to both pre-existing and post-BIT investments
  • Disputes covered: Carves out pre-existing disputes

Standards of Treatment

• National treatment (NT)
  • Type of NT clause: Post-establishment
  • Reference to "like circumstances" (or similar): No
• Most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment
  • Type of MFN clause: Post-establishment
  • Exceptions from MFN obligation
    • Economic integration agreements: Yes
    • Taxation treaties: Yes
    • Procedural issues (ISDS): No
• Fair and equitable treatment (FET)
  • Type of FET clause: FET unqualified
  • FET qualified
    • By reference to international law: None
    • By listing FET elements (exhaustive or indicative list): No
  • FET modifiers: Inconclusive
• Full protection and security: Standard
• Prohibition on unreasonable, arbitrary or discriminatory measures: Yes
• Expropriation
  • Scope of measures covered: Indirect expropriation mentioned
  • Refining expropriation clause
    • Indirect expropriation defined: No
    • Carve-out for general regulatory measures: No
    • Carve-out for compulsory licenses in conformity with WTO: No
• Protection from strife
  • Specifications
    • Relative right to compensation (comparator): MFN and NT
    • Absolute right to compensation in certain circumstances: No
• Transfer of funds
  • Includes transfer of funds: Yes
  • Exceptions to the transfer of funds obligation
    • Balance-of-payments exception: No
    • Other specific exceptions (e.g. to protect creditors, etc.): No
• Prohibition of performance requirements (PRs)
  • Includes prohibition of PRs: No explicit PR clause
  • Type of PR clause: Not applicable
• Umbrella clause: Yes
• Entry and sojourn of personnel (subject to local laws): No
• Senior management (nationality): No

Other Clauses

• Transparency
  • Directed at States (obligation to publish laws and regulations): No
  • Directed at investors: No
• Health and environment (any mentioning in the text, except preamble): No
• Labour standards (any mentioning in the text, except preamble): No
• Right to regulate (any mentioning in the text of this or similar concepts, except preamble): No
• Corporate social responsibility (any mentioning in the text, except preamble): No
• Corruption (any mentioning in the text, except preamble): No
• Not lowering of standards (typically environment and/or labour standards): No
• Subrogation clause: Yes
• Non-derogation clause (in case of IIA’s conflict with other norms, more favourable rules apply to investors): Yes
• Investment promotion
  • Reference to specific promotion activities in text of agreement (not preamble): No

Exceptions

• Essential security exception
  • Exception included: No
  • Exception defined (exceptional circumstances described in more detail): Not applicable
  • Exception self-judging: Not applicable
• General public policy exceptions
  • Public health and environment: No
  • Other public policy exceptions (e.g. cultural heritage, public order, etc.): No
• Prudential carve-out (concerns financial measures): No
• Scheduling and reservations (in treaty texts and annexes): None

State-State Dispute Settlement (SSDS)

• SSDS included: Yes

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)

• ISDS included: Yes
• Alternatives to arbitration: None
• Scope and consent
  • Scope of claims: general approach (chapeau paragraph of ISDS clause): Covers any dispute relating to investment
  • Limitations to the scope of ISDS
    • Limitation of provisions subject to ISDS: No
    • Exclusion of policy areas from ISDS: No
    • Special mechanism for taxation or prudential measures: No
  • Type of consent to arbitration: Provides express or implied consent
• Forums
  • ISDS forum options
    • Domestic courts of the host State: Yes
    • ICSID: Yes
    • UNCITRAL: Yes
    • Other forums: No
  • Relationship between forums: No reference
• Other specific ISDS features
  • Limitation period for submission of claims: No
  • Provisional measures: No
  • Consolidation of claims: No
  • Limited remedies (specifying available types of remedies): No
  • Treaty interpretation
    • Affirms binding interpretation by contracting parties or their joint committee: No
    • Requires certain questions to be submitted to contracting parties (renvoi): No
    • Regulates submissions by non-disputing State party: No
  • Transparency in arbitral proceedings
    • Requires documents to be made publicly available: No
    • Requires hearings to be open to the public: No
    • Regulates amicus curiae submissions by third (non-disputing) parties: No

Institutional Issues

• Mechanism for consultations between State parties: Yes
• Institutional framework (committee): No
• Technical cooperation/capacity building: No

Treaty Duration, Amendment and Termination

• Treaty duration
  • Years of initial treaty term: 10 years
• Automatic renewal: 10 years
• Amendment and termination
  • Unilateral termination
    • Includes modalities for unilateral termination: Yes
    • Length of notice period: One year prior notice
  • Includes modalities for amendment or renegotiation: Yes
  • "Survival"/"sunset" clause length: 10 years

• Originally mapped: 10-2016
• Mapped by: Saint Petersburg State University (Russia); Baku State University (Azerbaijan)