Belgium’s Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A review

This report reviews the 2002 Belgian Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), arguing that it follows a traditional European model that provides extensive protections for foreign investors while imposing broad obligations on host states. The authors contend that the model lacks necessary refinements to preserve policy space for sustainable development, environmental protection, and labour rights, and fails to address governance issues in investor-state dispute settlement.

• The Belgian Model BIT follows a traditional European model that is generally short and lacks detail, focusing primarily on investor protection rather than promoting investment or sustainable development.
• The treaty's investor-state dispute settlement mechanism (Article 12) provides minimal restrictions on investors, explicitly waiving the requirement to exhaust domestic administrative or judiciary remedies and imposing no time limit for bringing claims.
• The Belgian Model BIT lacks transparency requirements for investor-state claims, proceedings, or decisions, and does not address arbitrator conflicts of interest or provide an appeals mechanism.
• The definition of 'investment' in the Belgian Model BIT is broad and asset-based, protecting investments regardless of whether they are significant, lasting, or contribute to the host country's economic development.
• The treaty allows for 'treaty shopping' because its definition of 'investor' enables companies to manipulate their nationality to claim rights under the agreement.
• The Belgian Model BIT includes both an umbrella clause and a broad dispute settlement clause without limitations, which may allow contractual or domestic law disputes to be elevated to international arbitration.
• The Most Favoured Nation (MFN) provision lacks exceptions or limitations and does not use 'like circumstances' language, potentially allowing investors to import more favourable provisions from other treaties and making it harder for states to distinguish between investments based on environmental threats.
• The expropriation provisions in the Belgian Model BIT are more demanding than other IIAs because they require that measures not be 'contrary to any specific commitments' and use the word 'require' regarding public purpose, which may lead to stricter scrutiny by tribunals.
• The Fair and Equitable Treatment (FET) obligation is stated simply without linking it to customary international law, which may expose the host state to an overly stringent interpretation of 'legitimate expectations'.
• The treaty's environmental and labour provisions are considered weak because they impose only aspirational obligations ('strive to') and use narrow definitions of 'environmental legislation' and 'labour legislation' that may exclude policies, regulations, or certain core rights like non-discrimination.
• The Belgian Model BIT is essentially silent on obligations for home states and investors, focusing almost exclusively on the conduct of the host state.

APA

Bernasconi-Osterwalder, N., & Johnson, L. (2011). Belgium’s Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A review. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/belgiums_model_bit.pdf

Chicago

Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Nathalie, and Lise Johnson. Belgium’s Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A review. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2011. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/belgiums_model_bit.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bernasconi-Osterwalder |first1=Nathalie |last2=Johnson |first2=Lise |title=Belgium’s Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A review |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2011 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/belgiums_model_bit.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bernasconiosterwalder2011belgiums, author = {Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Nathalie and Johnson, Lise}, title = {{Belgium’s Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A review}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2011}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/belgiums_model_bit.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }