This paper examines the level of investment protection for selected countries along the Belt &Road Initiative (BRI), based on coding the textual content of 17 investment laws and 648international investment agreements (IIAs).
... See More + We find substantial heterogeneity in the levels ofprotection provided in the reviewed laws and IIAs, and consequently along the same BRI corridorsand projects. Moreover, the current lack of effective enforcement – as shown by past treatyviolations and lack of efficient domestic court systems – poses an additional layer of risk forinvestors. Substantive improvements and harmonization in standards of treatment and recoursemechanisms in these legal instruments can help reduce investment risks. Given the scale of plannedinvestments, to minimize dispute risks, BRI governments will need to ensure full understandingof their law and treaty commitments and strengthen the capacity to enforce them.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 134017 JAN 24, 2019
Domestic Violence (DV) is a universal phenomenon that affects millions of women of all social strata worldwide. It is the most pervasive, common, under-recognized, underestimated and under-reported type of violence against women.
... See More + It reflects discriminatory social norms, stereotypes, impunity and gender inequality. It is all too often considered as a “private, family issue”, widely accepted and minimized although it impairs the full enjoyment of life and fundamental rights and freedoms by victims and survivors who are overwhelmingly women. Domestic Violence (DV) is a development challenge and has a high economic and social cost, including health and medical costs, death, suicide, depression, lost productivity, lost income, , psychological consequences and trauma, increased stress, reactive violence, reduced ability to study or find and hold a job, judicial and prison costs, economic insecurity and abuse, debt, housing instability, homelessness, inter alia1. Beyond data and statistics, DV undermines autonomy and represents an enormous loss in terms of wellbeing not only for the women affected but also for the men who share their lives, for their children, their families and their societies. The Compendium on International and National Legal Frameworks on Domestic Violence (the “Compendium”) provides a survey of the key international and regional instruments as well as national legislation as they relate to domestic violence.
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This paper investigates the costs and benefits of concluding double tax treaties with investment hubs. Based on a sample of 41 African economies from 1985–2015, the results suggest that signing treaties with investment hubs is not associated with additional investments; yet, these treaties tend to come with nonnegligible revenue losses.
... See More + Building on a theoretical model, the paper investigates the role of treaty shopping in driving nominal investment flows and provides indirect evidence for its importance in the sample.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8623 OCT 25, 2018
The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region has a rich history of regional integration and connectivity to the broader world economy, which has stimulated the growth of knowledge and technological innovation.
... See More + Indeed, through migration, trade, investments, and other interactions, ECA countries have depended on, and benefited from, connectivity with other countries for centuries. A key insight of this report is that ECA’s international connectivity through trade, foreign direct investment, migration, telecommunications, transportation, and other avenues facilitates the transfers of knowledge and technology that are critical to long-term growth and shared prosperity. These connections complement one another because of the tacit (learning by doing), rather than explicit (contained in books or blueprints), nature of knowledge transfers. Migration, for example, enhances knowledge spillovers through trade and foreign investment by migrants transferring information on foreign markets and supporting connections to them. Similarly, the internet and efficient transport links are both necessary for successful e-commerce. This short publication summarizes the main findings of the World Bank flagship study Critical Connections. Critical Connections was born out of the desire to help policy makers focustheir attention on their long-term goals of regional and global integration to capture the benefits of connectivity, from which ECA countries had advanced so far during the early years of market expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s. Its primary purpose is to offer a deep analysis of ECA connectivity and how it has evolved over the past two decades. In a key innovation of the study, a network analysis measure of multidimensional connectivity captures the relationship between different forms of connectivity and their joint impacts on growth and the transmission of shocks.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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The aim of this report and toolkit is to provide analysis of and options for the tax treatment of OITs. To these ends, it addresses several questions: (i) What considerations arise in deciding whether or not such transfers should be taxed in the country in which the underlying asset is located?
... See More + (ii) To which types of assets do these considerations suggest that any such taxation should apply? (iii) How can such taxation, if adopted, best be designed and implemented as a practical, legal matter? This report and toolkit does not purport to provide binding rules or authoritative provisions of any kind nor does it aim to establish an international policy standard of any kind. Rather, it is intended to describe an international taxation issue of particular concern to developing countries, and to provide practicable guidance to them on options for how to address that issue, should they choose to do so. As such, the report represents the analysis and conclusions of the tax staffs of the four partner organizations, and does not represent the official views of the organizations’ member countries or Management.
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During the last two decades, economies in East Asia and Pacific have been integrating internationally through trade and financial investments. One trend is puzzling.
... See More + Whereas most of the trade integration has been within the region, most of the financial integration has been with countries outside the region. However, a closer examination of investment types shows that therelative lack of regional financial connectivity occurs mostly in equity, bonds, and bank syndicated loans (in so-called arm’s length investments). The region is much more connected through foreign direct investment (FDI) (through both mergers and acquisitions and greenfield investments).
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The development objective of Polio Eradication Support Project for Nigeria is to assist the recipient (Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN)), as part of a global polio eradication effort, to achieve and sustain at least eighty percent coverage with oral polio vaccine (OPV) immunization in every state in the recipient’s territory, and sustain national routine immunization coverage.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts include: (i) rehabilitation works could possibly involve the removal of vegetation cover in a bid to create work areas; (ii) soil can be contaminated from the spilling of petrol being used by generator sets and vehicles; (iii) air pollution may arise from the indiscriminate open air burning of wastes such as woods, plastics and other wastes generated during the construction and operation phases; (iv) accidental spillage of fuel, lubricants and other chemicals may run-off onto surface waters and eventually into streams; (v) waste generated on site if not managed properly could accumulate, produce foul smells, and attract insects and rodents which inevitably would have health implications on the general public; (vi) construction works such as excavations, working with heavy equipment working in confined spaces, working under noisy conditions, heavy lifting will expose the workers to occupational safety risks; and (vii) waste dumped besides roads may intrude onto the roads causing vehicular hold ups and accidents. Some of the mitigation measures include: (i) ecological restoration through environmental engineering should be undertaken after any human intervention; (ii) soils excavated, lumped and gathered on-site should be covered by impermeable materials; (iii) all waste should be directed to an approved dumpsite; (iv) proper containment of water being used for rehabilitation works; (v) prohibition of access to the work site by any person having no work permits; (vi) there should be a first aid kit at all times on each site; and (vii) ensure proper handling, and disposal of wastes.
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Growth in global trade has been slow since 2012. While global trade downturns are not unprecedented, the observed change in the relationship of trade to GDP poses the question whether the trade slowdown is a transitory deviation or a more long-lasting phenomenon brought about by structural changes.
... See More + This new dynamic, coupled with the rise of protectionist policies and rhetoric in many countries, positions trade at the forefront of policy discussions. This brief reviews recent patterns in global trade, examines the factors affecting trade—distinguishing between transitory and structural components of the slowdown—and discusses policies shaping the path of future trade.
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In FY2017,International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) administered 9 investor state arbitrations under the uncitral rules.
... See More + ICSID now has 17 cooperation agreements with other international arbitral institutions, with 2 new agreements concluded in FY2017. this complements its capacity to hold hearings anywhere in the World. The centre concluded 56 cases in the past year, the highest in ICSID's history; demonstrating that its efforts to expedite the arbitral process are having an impact on the duration of individual cases. ICSID has a staff of 66 professionals. more than half of ICSID staff are lawyers trained in various civil and common law jurisdictions. secretariat staff speak 23 languages in addition to the center's official languages, English, French and Spanish year-end, 16 ICSID contracting states made 73 designations or re-designations to the ICSID panels of arbitrators and conciliators. by the end of FY2017, there were 657 individuals on the ICSID panels. This fiscal year, 93 individuals from 33 different countries of origin were appointed to serve as arbitrators, conciliators or ad hoc committee members in 57 ICSID cases. 50th anniversary, the ICSID convention had 153 contracting states and 161 signatory states.in FY2017, 182 sessions or hearings were held. more than half (53 percent) of all sessions and hearings in FY2017 were conducted by telephone or video conference. ICSID administered 258 cases in FY2017, the greatest number of cases ever administered in a single year. ICSID's 600th case overall was registered in January 2017, and 619 cases had been registered by the fiscal year-end.
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On August 1st 2017, interested parties were invited to provide comments on the discussion draft of a toolkit on the Taxation of Offshore Indirect Transfers.
... See More + This document contains the comments received during the consultation period. The Platform for Collaboration on Tax is grateful to the commentators for their input and now publishes the public comments received.
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