Author: Turksen, U. & Nguyen The Ha
The Free Trade Agreement and Investment Dispute Settlement between the European Union and Vietnam: A Critical Assessment. Vietnamese Journal of Legal Sciences, 3(2), 43-83. https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/vjls-2021-0003
The European Union (EU) is an open market economy, and against the rise of protectionism globally, the ‘Global Europe: Competing in the world’ communication of European Commission in 2006 reflected the EU perspective that Free Trade Agreements as alternatives can go further and faster in promoting openness and integration, by tackling issues which are not readily available for multilateral negotiations and by preparing the stepping stones for the next level of multilateral liberalization.
After the prolonged negotiations and the EU’s legislative processes, the European Parliament gave its consent to both agreements of European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and Investment Protection Agreement on 12 February 2020. Those bilateral instruments promote enhanced transparency and regulatory best practices that are consistent with existing international norms or standards, also an important stepping stone and a show-case for the EU’s longer-term goal of a region-to-region (EU - Southeast Asia) trade deal.
Those agreements have established a new two-level judicial structure with the strong judicial character (Investment Tribunal System – ITS) which Vietnam has accepted via legally binding commitments. It is important for Vietnam to follow the good governance standards and the rule of law principles. If the ITS works well, it will provide additional safeguards and guarantees to investors whereby FDI flows to Vietnam are likely to increase. Finally, the ITS regime provides a powerful incentive or a catalyst to review and modernize the domestic legal system of Vietnam not only to improve the investment eco-system in Vietnam but to pave the way for optimization of its economic potential and competitive power in the region (i.e. in the ASEAN).
About authors:
- Prof. Dr. Umut Turksen is interested in the practical application of the law in innovation, societal security and development. He has published several articles and books on energy, financial crime and international trade and economic law. He has provided consultancy and training to prestigious international businesses and government projects. These include technical assistance programmes to multinational corporations (e.g. France Telecom, Orange, Equas Ltd, Wilmington Plc.) and international organisations (e.g. Commonwealth, NATO, EUROPOL), professional development training to practitioners and to the EU funded projects (e.g. CEPOL, SecuCities, MUTRAP III, COFFERS, PROTAX, VIRTEU). Prof Turksen is currently leading an EU H2020 project, PROTAX (www.protax-project.eu), which aims to co-create solutions - in collaboration with ministries and law enforcement agencies across Europe - for the prevention and prosecution of tax crimes. Prof Turksen is also a member of the Innovation Caucus (https://innovationcaucus.co.uk).
- Ha Nguyen (LLB, LLM), a partner of Huy&Partners LLC., is interested in cross-border trade and investment, energy, infrastructure construction, competition and State-owned enterprises. He has participated in energy megastructure projects in Vietnam and other ASEAN countries (Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemicals Plant, Song Hau 1 coal-fired power plant, petroleum production platforms in Vietnam offshore, Petronas RAPID project, Southern Johor, Malaysia) and airport projects in Vietnam (T3 Terminal – Tan Son Nhat Airport, Long Thanh international airport (phase 1)). He has also published a few articles on Vietnam oil and gas sector, renewable energy, State-owned enterprises privitisation and competition.
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