ICC Guidelines for International Investment 2016

ICC Guidelines for International Investment are a needed update reflecting the shared global experience of four decades of economic development since 1972. Above all, they are a reaffirmation of the fundamental principles for investment set out by the business community in 1949 as essential for further economic development.

In the past decade, the value of cross-border direct investment has grown substantially, to the point where global inward investment flows now approach $1.2 trillion USD; sales of affiliates worldwide are just under $30 trillion USD, far in excess of world trade flows and there are more than 2,800 bilateral investment treaties, many of them “south-south”.

Notwithstanding the growth of foreign investment flows and associated economic activity, there are reasons for international investors to be concerned about recent developments and policies – or the lack thereof – that dampen an enabling environment for international investment. These concerns, which are addressed in greater detail in the Guidelines, can be “clustered” into three categories:

1. Business confidence regarding sovereign debt policies, macro-economic imbalances, taxation, and regulatory uncertainty
2. Re-regulation of foreign investment
3. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) & Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs).