Free Trade Agreement between Central America and Panama

Central America - Panama FTA (2002)

Treaties with Investment Provisions

In force

06/03/2002

11/04/2003

es

es

Mapped

The regulatory part of the FTA was signed on 06 March 2002. In compliance with the requirements for entry into force of the FTA under Article 22.03, Additional Protocols were signed and entered into force at different times for the different Central American countries, as follows:

  1. Costa Rica - Panama (Signature - 07 August 2007; entry into force - 23 November 2008)
  2. El Salvador - Panama (Signature - 06 March 2002; entry into force - April 11, 2003 (date reflected as the entry into force of the FTA))
  3. Guatemala - Panama (Signature - 26 February 2008; entry into force - June 22, 2009)
  4. Honduras-Panama (Signature - June 15, 2007; entry into force - 09 January 2009)
  5. Nicaragua - Panama (Signature - 15 January 2009; entry into force - 21 November 2009)

Relationships with other agreements

Type Agreement
Coexists with EFTA - Central America FTA (2013)

Mapped treaty elements


Expand / collapse all
Reference to right to regulate (e.g. regulatory autonomy, policy space, flexibility to introduce new regulations)
Yes
Reference to sustainable development
Yes
Reference to social investment aspects (e.g. human rights, labour, health, CSR, poverty reduction)
Yes
Reference to environmental aspects (e.g. plant or animal life, biodiversity, climate change)
Yes
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.)
Yes
Lists required characteristics of investment
Yes
Contains "in accordance with host State laws" requirement
No
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
Yes
Denial of benefits (DoB)
DoB clause included
Yes
Content of the DoB clause
"Substantive business operations" criterion
Yes
Applies to investors from States with no diplomatic relations or under economic/trade restrictions
No
Discretionary ("Party may deny") or mandatory ("benefits shall be denied")
Unilaterally discretionary
Substantive scope of the treaty
Limiting substantive scope of the treaty
Excludes taxation
Yes
Excludes subsidies, grants
Yes
Excludes government procurement
Yes
Excludes other subject matter
Yes
Temporal scope of the treaty
Investments covered
Applies to both pre-existing and post-BIT investments
Disputes covered
Carves out pre-existing disputes
National treatment (NT)
Type of NT clause
Pre- and post-establishment
Reference to "like circumstances" (or similar)
Yes
Most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment
Type of MFN clause
Pre- and post-establishment
Exceptions from MFN obligation
Economic integration agreements
No
Taxation treaties
Yes
Procedural issues (ISDS)
No
Fair and equitable treatment (FET)
Type of FET clause
FET qualified
FET qualified
By reference to international law
International law / principles of international law
By listing FET elements (exhaustive or indicative list)
No
FET modifiers
None
Full protection and security
Standard
Prohibition on unreasonable, arbitrary or discriminatory measures
No
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
Yes
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
Yes
Other specific exceptions (e.g. to protect creditors, etc.)
Yes
Prohibition of performance requirements (PRs)
Includes prohibition of PRs
Explicit PR clause
Type of PR clause
List of prohibited PRs
Umbrella clause
No
Entry and sojourn of personnel (subject to local laws)
Yes
Senior management (nationality)
Yes
Transparency
Directed at States (obligation to publish laws and regulations)
Yes
Directed at investors
Yes
Health and environment (any mentioning in the text, except preamble)
Yes
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)
Yes
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)
Yes
Subrogation clause
No
Non-derogation clause (in case of IIA’s conflict with other norms, more favourable rules apply to investors)
No
Investment promotion
Reference to specific promotion activities in text of agreement (not preamble)
No
Essential security exception
Exception included
Yes
Exception defined (exceptional circumstances described in more detail)
Yes
Exception self-judging
Yes
General public policy exceptions
Public health and environment
Yes
Other public policy exceptions (e.g. cultural heritage, public order, etc.)
Yes
Prudential carve-out (concerns financial measures)
Yes
Scheduling and reservations (in treaty texts and annexes)
Negative-list reservations
ISDS included
Yes
Alternatives to arbitration
None
Scope and consent
Scope of claims: general approach (chapeau paragraph of ISDS clause)
Covers treaty claims only
Limitations to the scope of ISDS
Limitation of provisions subject to ISDS
No
Exclusion of policy areas from ISDS
Inconclusive
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
No
ICSID
Yes
UNCITRAL
Yes
Other forums
Yes
Relationship between forums
"Fork in the road"
Other specific ISDS features
Limitation period for submission of claims
Yes
Provisional measures
Yes
Consolidation of claims
Yes
Limited remedies (specifying available types of remedies)
Yes
Treaty interpretation
Affirms binding interpretation by contracting parties or their joint committee
Yes
Requires certain questions to be submitted to contracting parties (renvoi)
Yes
Regulates submissions by non-disputing State party
Yes
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
Mechanism for consultations between State parties
No
Institutional framework (committee)
Yes
Technical cooperation/capacity building
No
Treaty duration
Years of initial treaty term
Indefinite
Automatic renewal
Indefinite term
Amendment and termination
Unilateral termination
Includes modalities for unilateral termination
Yes
Length of notice period
Six months prior notice
Includes modalities for amendment or renegotiation
Yes
"Survival"/"sunset" clause length
None

02-2024

UNCTAD

The IIA Mapping Project is a collaborative initiative between UNCTAD and universities worldwide to map the content of IIAs. The resulting database serves as a tool to understand trends in IIA drafting, assess the prevalence of different policy approaches and identify treaty examples.

For more information on the project, please read the Mapping Project Description & Methodology.