Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Table of cases
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The shaping factors
- 3 Controls by the host state
- 4 The liability of multinational corporations and home state measures
- 5 Bilateral investment treaties
- 6 Multilateral instruments on foreign investment
- 7 Causes of action: breaches of treatment standards
- 8 The taking of foreign property
- 9 Takings in violation of foreign investment agreements
- 10 Compensation for nationalisation of foreign investments
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - The liability of multinational corporations and home state measures
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the second edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Table of cases
- List of abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The shaping factors
- 3 Controls by the host state
- 4 The liability of multinational corporations and home state measures
- 5 Bilateral investment treaties
- 6 Multilateral instruments on foreign investment
- 7 Causes of action: breaches of treatment standards
- 8 The taking of foreign property
- 9 Takings in violation of foreign investment agreements
- 10 Compensation for nationalisation of foreign investments
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Unlike in the old law, there is increasing expectation, particularly among developing countries and non-governmental organisations, that home states of multinational corporations should exert control over the activities of their corporate nationals operating overseas. By home country measures, these interest groups mean not only the measures taken to promote the flows of foreign investment into developing countries, but also those that seek to ensure that multinational corporations do not act to the detriment of the host developing states. This chapter concentrates on the latter type of measure. The rationale is that developed states owe a duty of control to the international community and do in fact have the means of legal control over the conduct abroad of multinational corporations. In moral terms, the activities of multinational corporations eventually benefit the home state's economic prosperity. The argument is that it is therefore incumbent on the home state to ensure that these benefits are not secured through injury to other states or to the welfare of the international community as a whole. The early law concentrated only on the protection of foreign investment through the diplomatic intervention of the home state. However, there is now an evolution of the notion that the home state has duties as well as rights in matters relating to foreign investment which require the home state to intervene to ensure that its multinational corporations act in accordance with emerging standards that require their accountability.
This shift in emphasis is due to a variety of factors. First, the international community's accent has been on ensuring that the poorer countries of the world undergo a process of economic development.
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- The International Law on Foreign Investment , pp. 169 - 203Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004