This thesis examines whether the fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty prescribe most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. The right to MFN treatment concerns the issue whether taxpayers resident in one Member State can “cherry-pick” the most beneficial tax treaty available to other taxpayers. Two issues of fundamental impor-tance are examined in this thesis. First, whether a resident of a Member State (A) who receives income in another Member State (B), can claim from that state, the most beneficial tax treaty available to a resident of a third Member State (C). Second, whether a resident can claim from his state of residence (A), the same tax treatment as provided in a tax treaty concluded by his state of residence and another Member State (C), when this tax treaty provides better treatment in terms of avoiding double taxa-tion in the state of residence than the tax treaty applicable to the source of income (B). The ECJ has held that discrimination arises only through the application of different rules to comparable situations or the application of the same rule to different situa-tions. The current state of EC law prohibits unequal treatment of residents and non-residents as well as residents who have exercised their rights to free movement in comparison to residents who have not. The condition is that they must be considered to be in comparable situations and that there is no objective difference to justify the difference in treatment. The ECJ has so far not ruled on the MFN issue. It is there-fore uncertain as to whether Member States are obligated to treat; 1) different non-resident taxpayers equally and, 2) whether Member States are prohibited from treat-ing their own residents differently when they exercise their rights to free movement in different Member States. This thesis identifies the requirements for the application of MFN treatment and ex-amines in which tax treaty provisions it is possible to apply MFN treatment. The ECJ, has in its case law, concluded that the application of tax treaties must be exer-cised in accordance EC law. It can be argued that a well-functioning internal market cannot allow bilateral tax treaties to provide preferential tax treatment to residents of one Member State, while denying it to residents of the remaining Member States. However, the application of MFN treatment could have far-reaching ramifications on the Member States’ existing tax treaty network. It is therefore fair to assume, as has been stated in other doctrinal opinions, that the ECJ will approach this issue care-fully when providing its interpretation on the matter.

<p>This thesis examines whether the fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty prescribe most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. The right to MFN treatment concerns the issue whether taxpayers resident in one Member State can “cherry-pick” the most beneficial tax treaty available to other taxpayers. Two issues of fundamental impor-tance are examined in this thesis. First, whether a resident of a Member State (A) who receives income in another Member State (B), can claim from that state, the most beneficial tax treaty available to a resident of a third Member State (C). Second, whether a resident can claim from his state of residence (A), the same tax treatment as provided in a tax treaty concluded by his state of residence and another Member State (C), when this tax treaty provides better treatment in terms of avoiding double taxa-tion in the state of residence than the tax treaty applicable to the source of income (B).</p><p>The ECJ has held that discrimination arises only through the application of different rules to comparable situations or the application of the same rule to different situa-tions. The current state of EC law prohibits unequal treatment of residents and non-residents as well as residents who have exercised their rights to free movement in comparison to residents who have not. The condition is that they must be considered to be in comparable situations and that there is no objective difference to justify the difference in treatment. The ECJ has so far not ruled on the MFN issue. It is there-fore uncertain as to whether Member States are obligated to treat; 1) different non-resident taxpayers equally and, 2) whether Member States are prohibited from treat-ing their own residents differently when they exercise their rights to free movement in different Member States.</p><p>This thesis identifies the requirements for the application of MFN treatment and ex-amines in which tax treaty provisions it is possible to apply MFN treatment. The ECJ, has in its case law, concluded that the application of tax treaties must be exer-cised in accordance EC law. It can be argued that a well-functioning internal market cannot allow bilateral tax treaties to provide preferential tax treatment to residents of one Member State, while denying it to residents of the remaining Member States. However, the application of MFN treatment could have far-reaching ramifications on the Member States’ existing tax treaty network. It is therefore fair to assume, as has been stated in other doctrinal opinions, that the ECJ will approach this issue care-fully when providing its interpretation on the matter.</p>

"Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LL.M. Droit Dans le cadre du programme de Maîtrise en droit(LL.M.) 2-325-1-0 en option recherche et droit des affaires" / Avec le début du processus de négociation entourant la création d'une éventuelle Zone de libre-échange des Amériques, il est permis de se demander si l'entente, prévue pour 2005, aura un impact significatif sur l'évolution des normes réglementant les investissements directs étrangers (IDE). À cet égard, à l'échelle internationale, l'évolution des normes sur les IDE est caractérisée par deux grandes phases. Une première phase concerne l'évolution des règles et principes destinés respectivement à sécuriser et garantir les investissements internationaux. Cette phase pourrait et sera probablement consolidée juridiquement avec la conclusion prochaine de la ZLÉA. Conséquence de l'effacement progressif des doctrines politiques réfractaires ou dissuasives à l'IDE, particulièrement vrai depuis la fin de la guerre froide, ces principes sont largement connus des juristes: traitement national, traitement juste et équitable, traitement de la nation la plus favorisée, règles en matière d'expropriation et de nationalisation, etc. La seconde phase concerne, elle, les règles destinées à libéraliser le cadre juridique entourant les opérations d'investissements. i.e. les règles visant notamment à assurer une libre admission des IDE sur le territoire de l'État hôte de l'investissement et une plus grande liberté de gestion en faveur de l'investisseur étranger. Cela dit, contrairement aux règles destinées à sécuriser les IDE, il n'y a pas de consensus politique suffisamment important dans les Amériques, enfin selon nous, pour voir ces principes se cristalliser de manière extensive dans un accord pan-américain. Le présent mémoire examinera les règles juridiques appartenant à ces deux phases d'évolution. Celles-ci feront plus précisément l'objet du second chapitre de notre mémoire. Le premier chapitre, quant à lui, portera sur l'évolution et la réaction de "la société internationale face à ce phénomène de multinationalisation des entreprises, pour ensuite porter sur l'évolution conceptuelle des notions d'investissements et d'investisseurs internationaux. En sus des trois versions de l'avant-projet de chapitre sur les investissements rendues publiques sur le site officiel de la ZLÉA, les ententes bilatérales et sous-régionales occuperont aussi une place privilégiée dans nos analyses. Alors qu'historiquement les premières 1n11:latlves d'intégration économique (en Amérique latine et centrale principalement) étaient marquées par l'idéologie du développement et celle du Nouvel ordre économique international (NOEI), la ZLÉA, comme processus d'intégration, est guidée elle au premier chef par l'idéologie libérale, sinon ultralibérale. Dans les Amériques, compte tenu des différences tangibles de développement des économies nationales des 34 États invités à négocier, le consensus de Washington, présent en 1994, semble s'effriter et annonce la conclusion prochaine d'une entente minimaliste. Cela affecterait dans une même proportion la question des IDE auquel cas il faudra admettre que la ZLÉA ne révolutionnera pas le cadre juridique dans lequel se font les opérations d'investissement. / With the beginning of the negotiating process that should be leading to the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas for 2005, it's interesting to take a look at the possible evolution of the roles and principles related to Foreign Direct investments regulation in the Americas. On the international level, there's two basics categories of norms. The ftrst one, are essentiaily design to protect and guarantee the investor and his investment. The eventual conclusion of FTAA could consolidate, at the hemisphere level, such category of roles and principles. Consequently to the end of cold war and the alignment of many country, but also many developing countries, in regard of the liberalism doctrine, the nature of these roles and principles are weil know by lawyers and professors in north-America: national treatment, fair and equitable treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment, roles concerning expropriation and nationalization, etc.. The second one, concern the roles and principles design to liberated the copusjuns afferent to FDI : for example, the roles and principles concerning transfer clause or performances requirements. That said, contrary to the ftrst category, there's no consensus over theses roles and principles. The absence of such consensus will probably influence the content of the agreement in a way that will be unsatisfted either for export-developing countries, such as the Canada and the United States, or developing countries. The present paper will examine roles and principles design for both protection and liberalization of FDI regulations. Indeed, the second chapter will entirely be treating of these matters. The ftrst chapter will instead be treating about the "transnationalization" of the private ftrm and the reaction of the international community regarding this phenomenon. The first chapter of our paper will also be the occasion to look at the conceptual evolution of both notions of "investor" and "investment" in regards of the FDI regime developed in the FTAA draft. On that matter, a special attention will be accorded to the FTTA process but also to bilateral and regional agreements signed over the last 15 years between members of the FTAA negotiating process. Historicaily and ideologicaily, the FTAA is link with the recent NAFTA process. There is no doubt about it. The integration process in the Americas is far from been recent in Latin America, with the difference that this last process was mostly inspired by the ideology of "development" and the project of NIEO. The FTAA process, on the other hand, is clearly guide by the liberalism ideology which not always take into account the particularize needs of developing countries. When the FTAA process begin, there was a consensus, among leaders, over the idea that free-trade, as weil as liberal FDI regulations, will beneftt to developing countries and ftt their economic and social aspirations. Since then, this consensus, the so-called "Washington consensus", has been lost and that will, necessarily, have some effects on the evolution of the roles and principles related to FDI regulation in the Americas.

Le droit des investissements internationaux est largement présenté au travers de la jurisprudence arbitrale, notamment celle du CIRDI. Une telle approche a paru insuffisante. En effet, dans l'examen des questions touchant le droit des investissements internationaux, la jurisprudence de la CIJ et de sa devancière semble être un passage obligé à certains égards. S'agissant de règles primaires, c’est dans la jurisprudence de la Cour qu’ont émergé et pris forme certaines règles substantielles relatives aux investissements internationaux, et dont la désuétude est loin d'être établie par l'avènement du CIRDI. Par ailleurs, le rôle général de la Cour dans le fonctionnement de l'ordre juridique international à travers les règles juridictionnelles, procédurales, d’interprétation ou encore de responsabilité internationale, est indéniable. Or, certaines de ces règles se présentent comme des chapitres incontournables du droit des investissements internationaux. Ce sont là autant de raisons qui ont conduit à entreprendre une étude sur Le droit des investissements internationaux vu par la CIJ et le CIRDI en l’abordant au travers de la question de savoir si les tribunaux CIRDI puisent dans l’héritage de la Cour sur les problématiques juridiques relatives aux investissements internationaux ou s’en départissent. La confrontation des jurisprudences de la Cour et des tribunaux CIRDI a permis de conclure que le droit des investissements internationaux vu par la CIJ n’est que partiellement le droit des investissements internationaux vu par les tribunaux CIRDI. Globalement, sur une problématique donnée, en même temps que certaines solutions retenues par la jurisprudence des tribunaux CIRDI dénotent un emprunt aux règles et principes posés par la Cour, d’autres s’en départissent, qu'il s'agisse des règles primaires en la matière, ou bien des règles secondaires du droit international dans leur déclinaison dans le cadre du droit des investissements internationaux. Parce qu’elle livre, entre autres, une vue d’ensemble de la jurisprudence de la Cour de la Haye en matière d’investissements internationaux – démarche inédite –, la thèse se présente comme une piste pour les arbitres sur le chemin de l’émergence d’une jurisprudence arbitrale cohérente en droit des investissements internationaux. / To international investment law questions, the ICJ decisions are materials that must be taken into consideration. Indeed, substantive rules in international investment law and their issues are older than the ICSID creation. The legal issues had already been raised in the Court which set rules and principles covering international investment law principles. Thus, it is into the Court’s decisions that some rules relating to international investments was created. From this perspective, the ICJ cases could be seen as a legitimate forerunner for substantive rules in international investment law. In the other hand, the ICJ has a main role in the development and promotion of the rules of international litigation, some of which are of relevance in international investment law. The present work, by using the ICJ cases as guidance precedents, challenges the ICSID decisions to determine if the ICSID follows or not the rules and principles raised by the Court in international investment law. The analysis shows that if some ICSID decisions borrow the principles and rules established by the ICJ, others follow new ways in both primary and secondary rules in international investment law.

Avec le début du processus de négociation entourant la création d'une éventuelle Zone de libre-échange des Amériques, il est permis de se demander si l'entente, prévue pour 2005, aura un impact significatif sur l'évolution des normes réglementant les investissements directs étrangers (IDE). À cet égard, à l'échelle internationale, l'évolution des normes sur les IDE est caractérisée par deux grandes phases. Une première phase concerne l'évolution des règles et principes destinés respectivement à sécuriser et garantir les investissements internationaux. Cette phase pourrait et sera probablement consolidée juridiquement avec la conclusion prochaine de la ZLÉA. Conséquence de l'effacement progressif des doctrines politiques réfractaires ou dissuasives à l'IDE, particulièrement vrai depuis la fin de la guerre froide, ces principes sont largement connus des juristes: traitement national, traitement juste et équitable, traitement de la nation la plus favorisée, règles en matière d'expropriation et de nationalisation, etc. La seconde phase concerne, elle, les règles destinées à libéraliser le cadre juridique entourant les opérations d'investissements. i.e. les règles visant notamment à assurer une libre admission des IDE sur le territoire de l'État hôte de l'investissement et une plus grande liberté de gestion en faveur de l'investisseur étranger. Cela dit, contrairement aux règles destinées à sécuriser les IDE, il n'y a pas de consensus politique suffisamment important dans les Amériques, enfin selon nous, pour voir ces principes se cristalliser de manière extensive dans un accord pan-américain. Le présent mémoire examinera les règles juridiques appartenant à ces deux phases d'évolution. Celles-ci feront plus précisément l'objet du second chapitre de notre mémoire. Le premier chapitre, quant à lui, portera sur l'évolution et la réaction de "la société internationale face à ce phénomène de multinationalisation des entreprises, pour ensuite porter sur l'évolution conceptuelle des notions d'investissements et d'investisseurs internationaux. En sus des trois versions de l'avant-projet de chapitre sur les investissements rendues publiques sur le site officiel de la ZLÉA, les ententes bilatérales et sous-régionales occuperont aussi une place privilégiée dans nos analyses. Alors qu'historiquement les premières 1n11:latlves d'intégration économique (en Amérique latine et centrale principalement) étaient marquées par l'idéologie du développement et celle du Nouvel ordre économique international (NOEI), la ZLÉA, comme processus d'intégration, est guidée elle au premier chef par l'idéologie libérale, sinon ultralibérale. Dans les Amériques, compte tenu des différences tangibles de développement des économies nationales des 34 États invités à négocier, le consensus de Washington, présent en 1994, semble s'effriter et annonce la conclusion prochaine d'une entente minimaliste. Cela affecterait dans une même proportion la question des IDE auquel cas il faudra admettre que la ZLÉA ne révolutionnera pas le cadre juridique dans lequel se font les opérations d'investissement. / With the beginning of the negotiating process that should be leading to the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas for 2005, it's interesting to take a look at the possible evolution of the roles and principles related to Foreign Direct investments regulation in the Americas. On the international level, there's two basics categories of norms. The ftrst one, are essentiaily design to protect and guarantee the investor and his investment. The eventual conclusion of FTAA could consolidate, at the hemisphere level, such category of roles and principles. Consequently to the end of cold war and the alignment of many country, but also many developing countries, in regard of the liberalism doctrine, the nature of these roles and principles are weil know by lawyers and professors in north-America: national treatment, fair and equitable treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment, roles concerning expropriation and nationalization, etc.. The second one, concern the roles and principles design to liberated the copusjuns afferent to FDI : for example, the roles and principles concerning transfer clause or performances requirements. That said, contrary to the ftrst category, there's no consensus over theses roles and principles. The absence of such consensus will probably influence the content of the agreement in a way that will be unsatisfted either for export-developing countries, such as the Canada and the United States, or developing countries. The present paper will examine roles and principles design for both protection and liberalization of FDI regulations. Indeed, the second chapter will entirely be treating of these matters. The ftrst chapter will instead be treating about the "transnationalization" of the private ftrm and the reaction of the international community regarding this phenomenon. The first chapter of our paper will also be the occasion to look at the conceptual evolution of both notions of "investor" and "investment" in regards of the FDI regime developed in the FTAA draft. On that matter, a special attention will be accorded to the FTTA process but also to bilateral and regional agreements signed over the last 15 years between members of the FTAA negotiating process. Historicaily and ideologicaily, the FTAA is link with the recent NAFTA process. There is no doubt about it. The integration process in the Americas is far from been recent in Latin America, with the difference that this last process was mostly inspired by the ideology of "development" and the project of NIEO. The FTAA process, on the other hand, is clearly guide by the liberalism ideology which not always take into account the particularize needs of developing countries. When the FTAA process begin, there was a consensus, among leaders, over the idea that free-trade, as weil as liberal FDI regulations, will beneftt to developing countries and ftt their economic and social aspirations. Since then, this consensus, the so-called "Washington consensus", has been lost and that will, necessarily, have some effects on the evolution of the roles and principles related to FDI regulation in the Americas. / "Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LL.M. Droit Dans le cadre du programme de Maîtrise en droit(LL.M.) 2-325-1-0 en option recherche et droit des affaires"