Highlights

This paper examines how transparency issues have been addressed in IIAs and other relevant instruments dealing with FDI. The paper takes a novel approach and addresses the nature and extent of transparency obligations in IIAs as they apply to all three participants in the investment relationship – the home country, the host country and the foreign investor.

The paper also examines the content of the transparency obligation. The key issue here is the degree of "intrusiveness" of transparency obligations, which in turn depends primarily on the selection of items of information to be made public. Other key issues concern the modalities used to implement transparency, the time limits for meeting transparency requirements, and possible exceptions.

Finally, the paper examines the significance of different approaches to transparency for economic development and considers the various options open to negotiators drafting transparency provisions.