Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and the Central American States

EFTA - Central America FTA (2013)

Treaties with Investment Provisions

In force

24/06/2013

19/08/2014

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Mapped

Relationships with other agreements

Type Agreement
Coexists with Panama - Switzerland BIT (1983)
Coexists with Central America - Panama FTA (2002)

Mapped treaty elements


Expand / collapse all
Reference to right to regulate (e.g. regulatory autonomy, policy space, flexibility to introduce new regulations)
No
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
No definition
Limitations to the definition of investment
Excludes portfolio investment
Not applicable
Excludes other specific assets (e.g. sovereign debt, ordinary commercial transactions, etc.)
Not applicable
Lists required characteristics of investment
Not applicable
Contains "in accordance with host State laws" requirement
Not applicable
Sets out closed (exhaustive) list of covered assets
Not applicable
Definition of investor
Definition included
No
Specifying natural persons covered
Includes permanent residents
Not applicable
Excludes dual nationals
Not applicable
Specifying legal entities covered
Includes requirement of substantial business activity
Not applicable
Defines ownership and control of legal entities
Not applicable
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
Yes
Excludes subsidies, grants
No
Excludes government procurement
No
Excludes other subject matter
Yes
Temporal scope of the treaty
Investments covered
Not stipulated
Disputes covered
Not stipulated
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
None
Exceptions from MFN obligation
Economic integration agreements
Not applicable
Taxation treaties
Not applicable
Procedural issues (ISDS)
Not applicable
Fair and equitable treatment (FET)
Type of FET clause
None
FET qualified
By reference to international law
Not applicable
By listing FET elements (exhaustive or indicative list)
Not applicable
FET modifiers
Not applicable
Full protection and security
No clause
Prohibition on unreasonable, arbitrary or discriminatory measures
No
Expropriation
Scope of measures covered
No expropriation clause
Refining expropriation clause
Indirect expropriation defined
Not applicable
Carve-out for general regulatory measures
Not applicable
Carve-out for compulsory licenses in conformity with WTO
Not applicable
Protection from strife
Specifications
Relative right to compensation (comparator)
Not applicable
Absolute right to compensation in certain circumstances
Not applicable
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.)
No
Prohibition of performance requirements (PRs)
Includes prohibition of PRs
No explicit PR clause
Type of PR clause
Not applicable
Umbrella clause
No
Entry and sojourn of personnel (subject to local laws)
Yes
Senior management (nationality)
No
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)
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
No
Alternatives to arbitration
Not applicable
Scope and consent
Scope of claims: general approach (chapeau paragraph of ISDS clause)
Not applicable
Limitations to the scope of ISDS
Limitation of provisions subject to ISDS
Not applicable
Exclusion of policy areas from ISDS
Not applicable
Special mechanism for taxation or prudential measures
Not applicable
Type of consent to arbitration
Not applicable
Forums
ISDS forum options
Domestic courts of the host State
Not applicable
ICSID
Not applicable
UNCITRAL
Not applicable
Other forums
Not applicable
Relationship between forums
Not applicable
Other specific ISDS features
Limitation period for submission of claims
Not applicable
Provisional measures
Not applicable
Consolidation of claims
Not applicable
Limited remedies (specifying available types of remedies)
Not applicable
Treaty interpretation
Affirms binding interpretation by contracting parties or their joint committee
Not applicable
Requires certain questions to be submitted to contracting parties (renvoi)
Not applicable
Regulates submissions by non-disputing State party
Not applicable
Transparency in arbitral proceedings
Requires documents to be made publicly available
Not applicable
Requires hearings to be open to the public
Not applicable
Regulates amicus curiae submissions by third (non-disputing) parties
Not applicable
Mechanism for consultations between State parties
Yes
Institutional framework (committee)
Yes
Technical cooperation/capacity building
No
Treaty duration
Years of initial treaty term
Indefinite
Automatic renewal
None
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

06-2015

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.