Direct Taxation, Tax Treaties and IIAs: Mixed Objectives, Mixed Results

de Mestral and Levesque (eds), Improving International Investment Agreements, 2013, Routledge.

11 Pages Posted: 31 Dec 2014

See all articles by Martha O'Brien

Martha O'Brien

University of Victoria - Faculty of Law

Kim Brooks

Dalhousie University - Schulich School of Law

Date Written: July 15, 2012

Abstract

Tax treaties and international investment agreements (“IIAs”) have much in common. They share the same purpose of facilitating foreign direct investment (“FDI”), and they provide similar legal protections, such as prohibitions of discriminatory treatment of non-nationals and access to binding dispute resolution. Among other objectives, they are intended to reduce risk and create security and predictability, allowing investors to plan and carry out commercially viable activities under the protection of an international legal regime . In this sense, they both contribute to ensuring the sustainability of FDI and the legal regimes that support it. There are other similarities as well. Tax treaties and IIAs have proliferated in tandem during the recent period of intensified globalization. Indeed, they are often negotiated with the same country in close temporal proximity. The same international organizations, the OECD and the UN, have been instrumental in setting standards and drafting models. This chapter examines the interaction of tax treaties and IIAs from a Canadian and international perspective.

Keywords: Investment, BITs, Taxation, Discrimination, International

Suggested Citation

O'Brien, Martha and Brooks, Kimberley, Direct Taxation, Tax Treaties and IIAs: Mixed Objectives, Mixed Results (July 15, 2012). de Mestral and Levesque (eds), Improving International Investment Agreements, 2013, Routledge., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2515987 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2515987

Martha O'Brien (Contact Author)

University of Victoria - Faculty of Law ( email )

PO Box 2300, STN CSC
McGill at Ring Rds (Fraser Bldg)
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3B1
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.uvic.ca/mcobrien

Kimberley Brooks

Dalhousie University - Schulich School of Law ( email )

6061 University Ave
Weldon Law Building
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H4H9
Canada

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