Investment Law (Spring)

COURSE OUTLINE

1. GENERAL

SCHOOL/ DEPARTMENT: Department of Civil Law Disciplines
LEVEL OF STUDY: Undergraduate
COURSE TITLE: Investment Law
SEMESTER OF STUDY: Spring
LECTURERS:

  • Aleksandr Alekseenko, Assoc. Prof., PhD Law
  • Litvinova Svetlana, Assoc. Prof., PhD Law
  • Varavenko Victor, Assoc. Prof., PhD Law

Coursework Breakdown

TEACHING WEEKLY HOURS         

ECTS Credits          

Lectures

12

0,33

Laboratory / workshops

24

0,67

 Total (1 ECTS = 36 hrs.)

 1

COURSE DELIVERED TO ERASMUS STUDENTS

  Yes

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes

After completion, students should be able to:

  • To understand what legal acts of Russia regulate foreign investments;
  • To know the definition of “foreign investments” and foreign “investor” in the Russian Federation as well the key terms of Russian investment law;
  • To know investment climate in Russia from legal point of view;
  • To use guaranties provided to foreign investments;
  • To understand the mechanism of protection of foreign investors’ rights.

General Skills

  • Knowledge of legal aspects of investments in Russia;
  • Ability to use  rules of law and their practical application in Russia;
  • Knowledge of legal terminology;
  • Skills to navigate in the literature and legal system;
  • Skills to analyze Russian investment law, Russian civil procedure law and International investment law;
  • Skills to make decisions in accordance with the Russian law;
  • Skills to protect Your business in Russia.

3. COURSE CONTENTS

1 Russian legislation on foreign investments

System of legal acts, regulating foreign investments in Russia. Constitutional basis of foreign investments. Main federal laws, regulating foreign investments. Main limitations of foreign investments. Regulating of foreign investments in Subjects of Russia. Foreign investments in economy of Primorskiy Krai: direct investments, portfolio investments; foreign investments and etc. Features of legal regulation of foreign investments on the territory of Primorskiy Krai, and other Russian regions. 

Types of foreign investments and investment agreements in Russian law

International investment agreements: specifics and significance. Methods for attraction of transnational corporation. International investment agreements: specifics, types, content. Concession agreements: specifics, legal regulation, types. Production-sharing agreements. Service agreements. Content of the international investment agreements. Material, ordinary, and casual terms. Other investment contracts, their differences from foreign investment contracts. Sale: legal regulation, content, choice of applicable law in accordance with the Russian law. Joint cooperation (general partnership): legal regulation, content, choice of applicable law. Types of the civil law agreements. Investment programs based on promissory note: specifics and advantages.

3 Guarantees of foreign investors rights protection in Russian  law

National treatment guaranty. Guaranty of Subrogation. Guaranty of non expropriation. Guaranty of transfers. Guaranty of use in RF and transfer revenues, income etc. lawfully received money. Guarantee of legal protection of foreign investors’ activities in Russia. Guaranty of due process. Guaranty of different forms of investing. Guaranty of the purchase of securities. Guaranty of participation in privatization. Guaranty of rights on land, natural resources, buildings and other real property. Grandfathers clause.

4 International protection of foreign investments

Main features of Russian model BIT. BITs of Russian Federation. Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States. Definition of expropriation in awards of international tribunals. ICSID arbitral practice. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.

5 Investment Disputes Settlement (national procedures)

National procedures for investment dispute settlement: in the courts of the Russian Federation and in the arbitration courts. Drawbacks of the dispute settlement in the courts of the Russian Federation. Guarantees to foreigners in the Russian courts. Alternative dispute resolution under the Russian law.

Features of the dispute settlement in the arbitration courts. Types of the arbitration courts. Federal Law "On International Commercial Arbitration" on July 7, 1993. Grounds for submission of a dispute to arbitration. Jurisdiction of the International Commercial Arbitration Court and the Maritime Arbitration Commission under Russian Chamber of Commerce.

Recognition and enforcement of court decisions and arbitration awards on the territory of the foreign state. Systems of enforcement of foreign courts decisions and arbitration awards. Grounds for rejection of recognition and enforcement.  

6 Investment climate

Investment Climate: general understanding. Elements of investment climate. Legislation as a form of conditions produced the investment climate. Effectiveness of law: general understanding. The possibility to raise a question of law efficiency. Effectiveness of law in the pure law theory. Criticism of the pure law theory approach. Economic Analysis of Law: general understanding.

Approaches for evaluation of the law efficiency founded on the economic analysis of law. ‘Doing Business’ project: general understanding. Impact of ‘Doing Business’ outcomes: legal reforms inspired by the project (foreign experience).

7 Legal environment in Rusia, its Changes and impact on the investment climate

‘Doing Business’ rating as the basis for reforms of the national legislation in Russia. Laing down aims and selection of measures.

Corporate Legislation. Rank of the Russian Federation under the criterion ‘Starting Business’ in ‘Doing Business’ rating. The state of current legislation on company registration. The main sources of law which regulate company registration. Transmission in legislation which regulate company registration.

Property Legislation. Rank of the Russian Federation under the criterion ‘Registering Property’ in ‘Doing Business’ rating. The state of current legislation on real estate property rights registration. The main sources of law which regulate real estate property rights registration. Transmission in legislation which regulate real estate property rights registration.

Custom Legislation. Rank of the Russian Federation under the criterion ‘Trading Across Borders’ in ‘Doing Business’ rating. The state of current legislation on foreign trade and custom inspection. The main sources of law which regulate foreign trade and custom inspection. Transmission legislation which regulate foreign trade and custom inspection.

4. TEACHING  METHODS - ASSESMENT

USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY: 

Grading

  Percetage        Points      
Participation 15% 15
Leading class session 5% 5
Paper proposal 5% 5
Paper critiques 5% 5
Midterm exam 20% 20
First Draft Research Paper comments comments
Final Draft Research Paper 35% 35
Final project 15% 15
Total: 100% 100

Grading System

100-90 points:    
5  Excellent, very creative, almost no room for improvement
89-76 points:     4  Good, solid work, creative but not brilliant
75-61 points:     
3  Average work, shows little effort or creativity
60-0 points:    
2  Failing work, not acceptable for a college level course

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Recommended Book and Journal Article Resources:

  1. Agreement Between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukraine On the Encouragement and Mutual Protection of Investments
  2. Juan Carlos Hatchondo, Leonardo Martinez. Legal Protection to Foreign Investors. / Juan Carlos Hatchondo, Leonardo Martinez // Economic Quarterly. – 2011. – Vol.97, № 2.
  3. Sornarajah, The international law on foreign investment (2010).
  4. Franz Sedelmayer v. The Russian Federation, Arbitration award, SCC, (July 07, 1998), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita0757.pdf
  5. Piero Bernardini, ‘Investment Arbitration under the ICSID Convention and BITs’ in Global Reflections on International Law, in Commerce and Dispute Resolution, Liber Amicorum in honor of Robert Briner 89 (ICC pub., 2005).
  6. Quasar de Valores SICAV S.A., Orgor de Valores SICAV S.A., GBI 9000 SICAV S.A. and ALOS 34 S.L. v. The Russian Federation, No. 24/2007, Arbitration award, SCC (July 20, 2012), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita1075.pdf
  7. Renta 4 S.V.S.A., et al v. The Russian Federation, No24/2007, Award on preliminary objections on the case, SCC, (Mar. 20, 2009), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita0714.pdf
  8. Rodrigo Polanco Lazo, The Chilean Experience in South-South Investment and Trade Agreements, in Reconceptualizing International Investment Law from the Global South 47–94 (Fabio Morosini & Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin eds., 2017).
  9. RosInvestCo UK Ltd. v. The Russian Federation, No.079/2005, 151, Award on Jurisdiction, SCC, (October, 2007), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita0719.pdf
  10. Santiago Montt. State Liability in Investment Treaty Arbitration, Global Constitutional and Administrative Law in the BIT Generation. – Oxford and Portland: Hart Publishing, 2009.
  11. Stephan W. Schill, Maffezini v. Plama: Reflections on the Jurisprudential Schism in the Application of Most-Favored-Nation Clauses to Matters of Dispute Settlement, in Meg Kinnear et al (eds), Building International Investment Law: The First 50 Years of ICSID, 251-265 (2016).
  12. Surya P. Subedi. International Investment Law Reconciling Policy and Principle. – Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2008.
  13. Veteran Petroleum Limited The Russian Federation, PCA Case No. AA 228, Final Award, (July 18, 2014), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/italaw3280.pdf
  14. Vladimir Berschader and Michael Berschader v. The Russian Federation, No.080/2004, Arbitration award, SCC, (Apr. 21, 2006), available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/ita0079_0.pdf
  15. Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) v. The Russian Federation, PCA Case No. AA 227, Final Award, (July 18, 2014),  available at https://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/italaw3279.pdf

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international@vvsu.ru

Mon-Thu: 8:30 - 17:30
Fri: 8:30-16:15


Aleksandr Alekseenko (Mr.)

Assoc. Prof., PhD Law

Mon-Thu: 8:30 - 17:30
Fri: 8:30-16:15


Svetlana Litvinova (Ms.)

Assoc. Prof., PhD Law

Mon-Thu: 8:30 - 17:30
Fri: 8:30-16:15


Viktor Varavenko (Mr.)

Assoc. Prof., PhD Law

Mon-Thu: 8:30 - 17:30
Fri: 8:30-16:15