Abstract

Info

Title:: Countries along the Belt and Road indirect sharetransfer legal risk from foreign investment law

Author(s):: YUE Ying; School of Law, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Keywords:: The Belt and Road; investors; indirect sharetransfer; foreign investment law; investment risk; foreign equity

Abstract:: Indirect sharetransfer may lead to changes in the identity of investors defined in the foreign investment law of the host country, thus affecting the application of this law. This paper selected foreign capital basic law, single law or foreign investment laws and regulations from 13 countries along “The Belt and Road”, analyzed its different models in overseas investment share-transfer, as well as the behavior of investors to cooperate with the inspection, registration declaration and provisions of such conversion, and studied the bilateral investment agreements between these 13 countries and China. The results show that most investment agreements respect the determination of the identity of foreign investors in the domestic law of the host country. Investors should pay attention to the approval and registration requirements of the change of foreign ownership in the process of overseas indirect share-transfer or overseas investment. Investors should also be sensitive to changes in the use of foreign capital laws that may be associated with indirect sharetransfer, avoiding to be taken as legal circumvention or as a threat to the security of the host country.