Colombia and Great Britain are planning to subscribe a new version of a bilateral agreement for the protection of foreign investment. This new version is intended to establish a protection for foreign investors against expropriation and nationalization practices, granting the investor the right of indemnification. It will be issued taking as a model the G-3 agreement, executed between Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, which was constitutionally ratified, and established the right of indemnification of the foreign investor in case of expropriation.

This protection was initially established in a clause of the agreement subscribed between Great Britain and Colombia in 1994 which was later overruled by the Constitutional Court as unconstitutional. The Court estimated that it was violatory of the equal rights provision taking into account that article 58 of the National Constitution establishes the possibility of administrative expropriation without right of indemnification, when the social interest and the public use requires it.

Prepared by Jaime Robledo from Gomez Pinzon & Asociados, Bogota , Colombia.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide but specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

GOMEZ PINZON & ASOCIADOS
Carrera 9 No. 73-24 Pisos 1,2,3 y 5
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia

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