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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Treaty contains the ISDS mechanism although no disputes have been officially registered to date. ECOWAS encompasses Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations or ASEAN (formed of Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) also provides investor protection under the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) which was adopted in 2009.

(February 2017)

South Africa: How safe for investment?
Politics Web | 23-Oct-2017
The Protection of Investment Act affords foreign investors no protections beyond domestic law, and pointedly disavows investor-state international arbitration. The SADC Protocol was also amended by the SADC Summit of heads of state and government.
France, investor-state disputes | ISDS, reformed ISDS, SADC, South Africa
ECOWAS calls for Regional Arbitration Forum for dispute resolution
TVC | 11-Oct-2017
The Economic Community of West African States has called for the creation of a Regional Arbitration Forum as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism to boost its economic potentials.
ECOWAS, investor-state disputes | ISDS
Singapore court sets aside award against Lesotho
African Law Business | 6-Sep-2017
The Singapore High Court has set aside an investor-state arbitral award on the merits against the Kingdom of Lesotho. The case is an important one, as it concerns whether investors can use arbitration to resolve cases that were pending before the SADC Tribunal when it was dissolved by the SADC Summit in 2014.
investor-state disputes | ISDS, Lesotho, mining, SADC, Singapore
Investment act may clash with SADC treaty
Business Day | 17-Jun-2016
Legal practitioners have been saying for some time now that SA’s Protection of Investment Act is not in sync with the country’s commitments under the Southern African Development Community Protocol on Finance and Investment.
investor-state disputes | ISDS, reformed ISDS, SADC, South Africa
East African states agree on free trade area issues
All Africa | 13-Oct-2015
The East African Community partner states have agreed on the outstanding trade issues under the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).
EAC, investor-state disputes | ISDS, rules of origin, SADC
International investment agreements and Africa’s structural transformation: a perspective from South Africa
South Centre | 9-Aug-2015
The brief describes the widening debate on the implications of international investment agreements for sustainable development and outlines the broad features of alternative policy approaches to foreign direct investment
investor-state disputes | ISDS, reformed ISDS, SADC, South Africa
PACER-plus chapter on Investment draft text (November 2013)
PINA | 23-Apr-2015
This is the leaked draft chapter on Investment text from the PACER Plus Intersessional meeting in Auckland, 26-28 November 2013.
FTAs (texts of), investment | BITs, investor-state disputes | ISDS, PACER
Protecting foreign investments in Sub-Saharan Africa: The SADC and its protocol on finance and investment
Mondaq | 9-Jan-2014
The SADC protocol on investment provides rights to investors, including investor-state dispute settlement provisions, in southern Africa no matter what country they hail from. Thus, it goes way beyond typical bilateral investment treaties (BITs) while protecting foreign companies operating in SADC countries without BIT coverage.
investor-state disputes | ISDS, SADC