International Investment Agreements and National Governance: The Case of Egypt

The current international investment legal regime results from the interplay between international investment norms, embodied mainly in international investment agreements (IIAs), and the legal regime of the host country. This article will outline two major impacts IIAs can exert on national governance in Egypt: first, the domestic reform impact that refers to domestically initiated reform measures taken to compliment IIAs objectives, such as establishment of Economic Courts as well as limitation of third-party challenge of Investor-State contracts; and, second, the Supra-National Impact which involves situations where IIAs constrain the regulatory powers of the host state usually by imposing legal obligations that go beyond international standards, such as alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms as well as trade-related investment measures-plus (TRIMS-Plus) and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights-plus ( TRIPS-Plus) provisions. Understanding the profound effects of IIAs on national governance will beneficially inform policy makers when concluding IIAs.