Regulations for Foreign Investor Act weighted towards dispute settlement

This research paper analyzes the investment regulations published on December 30, 2016, by South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry to bring the Protection of Investment Act into force. The author argues that the regulations are overly focused on dispute settlement through mediation, which may be insufficient for high-stakes investment disputes and raises concerns regarding the confidentiality of privileged information.

• The investment regulations published on December 30, 2016, are criticized for being narrowly focused on section 13 of the Protection of Investment Act, which specifically addresses dispute settlement, rather than providing general operational guidance for the entire law.
• The author expresses concern that the Department of Trade and Industry will act as the custodian of documents in confidential mediation processes, potentially creating a conflict of interest or risking the exposure of privileged firm-level information.
• The proposed dispute-resolution framework is viewed as inadequate because it relies on mediation—a process the author suggests is better suited for family disputes—without linking it to arbitration or specialized investment courts.
• The South African government's shift toward domestic mediation follows the termination of bilateral investment treaties in 2012, which removed the ability of foreign investors to use investor-state arbitration, a move prompted by the 2010 Foresti case involving Italian investors.
• The author suggests the Department of Trade and Industry is likely following recommendations from the World Bank’s investment climate facility, despite the fact that the World Bank’s own International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid) rarely utilizes mediation.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2017). Regulations for Foreign Investor Act weighted towards dispute settlement. https://saiia.org.za/research/regulations-for-foreign-investor-act-weighted-towards-dispute-settlement/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Regulations for Foreign Investor Act weighted towards dispute settlement. 2017. https://saiia.org.za/research/regulations-for-foreign-investor-act-weighted-towards-dispute-settlement/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Regulations for Foreign Investor Act weighted towards dispute settlement |date=12 January 2017 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/regulations-for-foreign-investor-act-weighted-towards-dispute-settlement/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2017regulations, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Regulations for Foreign Investor Act weighted towards dispute settlement}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2017}, month = jan, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/regulations-for-foreign-investor-act-weighted-towards-dispute-settlement/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }