Investment laws have gained prominence over the years, particularly in developing countries, as one of the few pieces of legislation that exclusively focus on investment.

Designing these laws can be challenging, in view of their potential broad coverage, the complexity of the policy issues involved and their interaction with other parts of the legislation and international commitments.

At the national level, a broad variety of policy tools exist for dealing with these issues and determining a country's general investment regime. They range from the overarching constitution to more distinctive legal instruments, which address, among others, sector-specific issues, company operations, corporate governance, taxation, trade, competition, intellectual property rights, labour, environmental protection, immigration and special economic zones.

At the international level, cross-border investment is governed by a multitude of bilateral, regional or multilateral agreements as well as non-legally binding guidelines or principles.

Together, these various policy instruments constitute a country's policy framework for investment.

The analysis in this guide is based on UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development (IPFSD), which provides the foundation for policy advice in the area of investment.

The objective of the guide is to assist investment policymakers and other practitioners dealing with investment laws in this complex decision-making process.

It starts with an overview of the existing universe of investment laws and their main characteristics, and then elaborates on the main policy issues that arise when deciding whether to adopt or revise such a law and points out the main missteps to avoid.

This guide can also be useful for policymakers in countries that consider adopting or revising other national policy instruments on investment, such as a national investment policy or a policy statement on investment, as they would be confronted to similar questions.

The guide:

• Discusses the arguments in favour and against the adoption of an investment law.
• Maps options for policymakers to deal with individual policy areas in the investment law and summarizes their likely pros and cons.
• Addresses the relevance and implications of the different policy options.
• Describes how existing investment laws have dealt with each policy area and how to consider contemporary or emerging investment issues.
• Raises additional issues for consideration at the drafting stage.
• Refers whenever applicable to UN Trade and Development's relevant guidance and experience on the issues.

The guide refrains from making specific drafting suggestions for individual law provisions or from presenting a complete model investment law, which could be done through UN Trade and Development’s country-specific technical assistance.

Likewise, the guide abstains from any in-depth discussion of individual aspects of investment policy-making and how they should be dealt with in the investment law (e.g. establishment procedures for investment or the design of investment incentives).