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Domestic National Security Regulation and Foreign Investment

Past Events (for next events, please check out social media accounts)

June 1-3, 2023 University of Passau (Germany)

ECLS Panel: CAI’s Contribution to International Investment Law: European, Chinese, and Global Perspectives

September 22, 2022, Copenhagen University (Denmark) 

3, 10,17, 24 June and 1 July 2021, 20:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

During the 20th century changes in the way in which the world held its commercial, financial and business activities forced taxation, trade and investment to reinvent themselves. The quest assumed by all three disciplines was posed on finding a framework for dealing with globalization. More recently, particularly since the beginning of this century, e-commerce and the digitalization of the economy have made the governance of these three fields an even more challenging area.

 

 

Globalization and digitalization have significantly increased the opportunities for cooperation among countries. At the same time, they have also exacerbated competition among nations for tax bases, trade shares and investment. Taxation, trade, and investment have several specificities that are valuable since they could be translated from one discipline to the other, in order to fix specific incongruities or shed light onto practical circumstances that remain an open issue. At the same time, there also exist many commonalities and interconnections that are worth exploring.

 

Against this backdrop, this workshop series will provide four sessions in which a selected group of participants will discuss about the accepted sources of interpretation in public international law, services trade, the technical issues that concern the minds of experts on each field and the existent judicial discussions, and on the role of tax incentives for investment in the context the digitalization of the economy.

 

The workshop series will close with a final meeting (open for the public), where a high-level panel will dig deeper into the policy implications of the topics discussed throughout the first four sessions.

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The Zoom link to join the event will be made available closer to the event date. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

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Further info:

Program

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Globalization and Digitalization: Interconnections Between Taxation, Trade, and Investment

3, 10,17, 24 June and 1 July 2021, 20:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

18 June 2021, 20:00 - 23:59 (Hong Kong Time,UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners and the Asia Pacific FDI Network are pleased to invite you to attend the webinar ‘Interaction between Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Investment and Trade’ that will take place on 18 June 2021, 14:00–18:00 CET (pm 04:00 MSK; am 8:00 NY; pm 1:00 UK; pm 8:00 CH; pm 8:00 SG; pm 5:30 IN).  

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The webinar is organized by Dr. Yulia Levashova, Dr. Ilia Rachkov and Prof. Julien Chaisse and based on the discussions included in the special issue ‘The Interaction between International Investment Law and Special Economic Zones (SEZ)’ published in Transnational Dispute Management Journal in 2020. 

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Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are important vehicles of a state's economic policy to attract foreign investments. The proliferation of SEZs worldwide raises complex legal issues regarding interaction between SEZs and international law and policy.  

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The topics discussed during the webinar are: (1) a general regulatory framework of SEZs and its relationship with investment law, (2) China's SEZs and the dispute settlement mechanisms, (3) India's SEZs and its interaction with trade and labour policies, (4) Russia's SEZs and their evolution and (5) Jamaica's SEZs: the journey from Free Zones to modern SEZs. 

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The flyer with a link to the registration form can be accessed here.

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The summary of the TDM special issue ‘The Interaction between International Investment Law and Special Economic Zones (SEZs)’ can be accessed here:  https://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/article.asp?key=2754 

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We are looking forward to seeing you at the webinar! 

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The Interaction between International Investment, Trade and Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

17 June 2021, 20:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

In an international context it can be said that in order for a dispute to arise, a conflict regarding the interpretation or application of a treaty needs to occur. This is most likely the case when contracting states of a treaty use treaty provisions differing from the text of the OECD or UN Model Convention. Other reasons for conflicts to occur might be a different appraisal of the facts related to the case or treaty interpretation biased by national legislation and against the principles of good faith.

When examining the nature of disputes, it has to be kept in mind that the majority of disputes arise between the taxpayer and authority. Only rarely would a breach of a treaty obligation by one state lead to a dispute with the other contracting state. There are various mechanisms of dispute resolution at the international level, both for tax and non-tax disputes. Some of the most prominent measures for settling tax disputes are those found in DTCs and the EU Arbitration Convention. With most of the recent development focusing on Tax Treaty Arbitration, Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) remains the key tool to reduce treaty-related disputes. However, a number of other international adjudicatory bodies (namely, WTO, ISDS, CJEU, and ICJ) have had to review the legality of tax measures in light of international treaties. This trend gives rise to a number of practices such as treaty shopping, but also give an opportunity to a greater dialogue between international courts and more precisely, between these courts and tax tribunals.

  • How do international courts (WTO, ISDS, CJEU, UN ICJ) approach tax measures?

  • How frequently do these adjudicatory bodies deal with tax disputes? What is the typology of tax measures reviewed by these courts?

  • What are the substantive and procedural interactions between trade, investment, and tax international courts?

  • How does the global push to tax the digital enterprises relate to ICJ, WTO, ISDS?

  • What is the impact of these courts’ decisions on tax law? How can one import terminology from other disciplines within the public international law practices (trade, tax, and investment)?

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Program

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The Settlement of Tax and Tax Treaty Disputes by International Courts and Tribunals

3, 10,17, 24 June and 1 July 2021, 20:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

4 & 7 May, 2021, 16:00 - 19:00 (Hong Kong Time,UTC+08:00), Online 

4 May 10.00-11.00 Session I : Legal Systems in China and Japan
Introductions : Krista Schefer Nadakavukaren, Vice-director, Institut suisse de droit comparé
Moderator : Harald Baum, former Legal Advisor, Institut suisse de droit comparé
Legal system in China, Knut Benjamin Pißler, Professor, Max-Planck-Insitut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg, Legal System in Japan Béatrice Jaluzot, Director, Institut d’Asie Orientale 

Discussion

11.15-12.15 Session II : New Developments of Private International Law
in China and Japan

Introductions Krista Schefer Nadakavukaren, Vice-director, Institut suisse de droit comparé
Moderator Jun Zheng, former Legal Advisor, Institut suisse de droit comparé
New Developments of PIL in China
Jin Huang, Professor, President of China Society of Private International Law,
China University of Political Science and Law
New Developments of PIL in Japan
Yuko Nishitani, Professor of International Private and Business Law
at Kyoto University Graduate School of Law
Discussion


10.00-11.00 Session III : Commercial Law Roundtable
Introductions Krista Schefer Nadakavukaren,
Vice-director, Institut suisse de droit comparé
Moderator Fieke van Overbeeke, Director, Internationaal Juridisch Insituut ;
Assistant Professor, University of Antwerpen
Speakers Xiangshun Ding, Professor, Renmin University
Clarisse von Wunschheim, Dr., Partner at Altenburger
Dai Yokomizo, Professor, Nagoya University
Discussion


11.15-12.15 Session IV : Family Law Roundtable
Moderator Fabienne Jault,
Professor, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Speakers Geraldine Goh Escolar, Dr., First Secretary,
Hague Conference on Private International Law
Weizuo Chen, Professor, Tsinghua University
Mari Nagata, Professor, Osaka University
Discussion

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Download Program

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New Developments in Private International Law in East Asia

29 March 2021, 16:00 - 19:30 (Hong Kong Time,UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

The negotiation of EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between China and the EU will be a watershed event in global investment treaty practice. Because of the size and importance of the PRC-EU bilateral investment relationship, and because of the leading role both parties have played in the global spread of investment treaties, the issues raised and lessons drawn from the PRC-EU case will have ramifications well beyond China and Europe. However, a number of issues have so far prevented the conclusion of the negotiations.  

This webinar aims at providing a comprehensive update on the negotiations, discussing the main stumbling blocks and highlighting the next key steps in the negotiations. This webinar is designed as an online event which is structured around two sessions focusing on the substantive issues of the negotiations and the question of dispute resolution

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Download Calendar Event (ICS)

 

Further info
Programme

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EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment in Context (Part 2)

8 March 2021, 17:00 - 20:00 (Hong Kong Time,UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

The negotiation of EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between China and the EU will be a watershed event in global investment treaty practice. Because of the size and importance of the PRC-EU bilateral investment relationship, and because of the leading role both parties have played in the global spread of investment treaties, the issues raised and lessons drawn from the PRC-EU case will have ramifications well beyond China and Europe. However, a number of issues have so far prevented the conclusion of the negotiations. 

This webinar aims at providing a comprehensive update on the negotiations, discussing the main stumbling blocks and highlighting the next key steps in the negotiations. This webinar is designed as an online event which is structured around two sessions focusing on the substantive issues of the negotiations and the question of dispute resolution.

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Further info

Webinar Program

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The Zoom link to join the event will be made available closer to the event date. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

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EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment in Context (Part 1)

26 Jan 2021, 21:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

Round 2 of this virtual event organised by the Asia Pacific FDI Network, World Trade Institute (WTI) and the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS).

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The Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) was signed on 15 November 2020, after more than 8 years of negotiations. RCEP is led by ASEAN and involves all 10 ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

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The organisers invite experts to help us gain an understanding about the content of RCEP.

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The virtual speed-dating of the different parts of the agreement is meant to offer a short and concise take of what the chapters cover, how ambitious they are, what is new and what potential impacts are. 

 

The speed dating’s main audience are trade and investment officials, students, researchers, business organisations and members of the civil society.

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A detailed list of topics and speakers can be found in the programme linked below.

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Download Calendar Event (ICS)

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Further info
RCEP Speed Dating - Programme

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RCEP Speed Dating (Round 2)

19 Jan 2021, 21:00 - 23:00 (Hong Kong Time, UTC+08:00), Online (via Zoom)

Round 1 of this virtual event organised by the Asia Pacific FDI Network, World Trade Institute (WTI) and the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS).

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The Regional Cooperation Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) was signed on 15 November 2020, after more than 8 years of negotiations. RCEP is led by ASEAN and involves all 10 ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

​

The organisers invite experts to help us gain an understanding about the content of RCEP. 

​

The virtual speed-dating of the different parts of the agreement is meant to offer a short and concise take of what the chapters cover, how ambitious they are, what is new and what potential impacts are. 

 

The speed dating’s main audience are trade and investment officials, students, researchers, business organisations and members of the civil society.

​

A detailed list of topics and speakers can be found in the programme linked below.

​

Download Calendar Event (ICS)

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Further info
RCEP Speed Dating - Programme

RCEP Speed dating.jpg.webp

RCEP Speed Dating (Round 1)

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