EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement Legal analysis

The analysis argues that EUSIPA perpetuates the flaws of old-generation Bilateral Investment Treaties by providing vague investor protections and a biased dispute settlement system that lacks sufficient judicial independence and fails to prioritize public interest over investment claims.

• The agreement's 'right to regulate' provision is declarative and not legally enforceable, lacking a proper carve-out to prevent investors from challenging public policy measures or a supremacy clause to ensure international environmental and human rights obligations outweigh investment protections.
• EUSIPA employs broad and outdated investor protection standards, specifically codifying the 'frustration' of 'legitimate expectations' under the Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) standard and including an 'umbrella clause' that allows private contracts with state entities to be challenged in international courts rather than domestic ones.

APA

Van den Berghe, A. (2019). EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement Legal analysis. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/ymlkgcnr/legal-analysis-of-the-eu-singapore-investment-protection-agreement-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

Van den Berghe, Amandine. EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement Legal analysis. ClientEarth, 2019. https://www.clientearth.org/media/ymlkgcnr/legal-analysis-of-the-eu-singapore-investment-protection-agreement-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Van den Berghe |first1=Amandine |title=EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement Legal analysis |publisher=ClientEarth |date=January 2019 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/ymlkgcnr/legal-analysis-of-the-eu-singapore-investment-protection-agreement-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{vandenberghe2019eusingapore, author = {Van den Berghe, Amandine}, title = {{EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement Legal analysis}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2019}, month = jan, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/ymlkgcnr/legal-analysis-of-the-eu-singapore-investment-protection-agreement-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }