19 JULY 2002. - An Act to approve the Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Republic of Armenia concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, signed in Brussels on 7 June 2001 (1) (2) (3)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Republic of Armenia concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, signed in Brussels on 7 June 2001, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 19 July 2002.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
L. MICHEL
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Ms. A. NEYTS-UYTTEBROECK
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
____
Notes
(1) Session 2001-2002.
Senate.
Documents. - Bill, tabled on 12 March 2001, No. 2-1071/1. - Report, no. 2-1071/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of April 25, 2002. - Vote, meeting of 25 April 2002.
Room.
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 50-1769/1. Report, no. 50-1769/2. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 50-1769/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of May 23, 2002. - Vote, meeting of 23 May 2002.
(2) See also the Decree of the Flemish Community of 19 July 2002 (Moniteur belge of 20 August 2002), the Decree of the Walloon Region of 13 November 2002 (Moniteur belge of 4 December 2002) and the Order of the Brussels-Capital Region of 13 June 2002 (Moniteur belge du 12 juillet 2002).
(3) The exchange of instruments of ratification took place on 19 novem bre 2003. Pursuant to article 14, this Agreement comes into force on 19 December 2003.

AGREEMENT TO THE BELGO-LUXEMBOURGEOISE ECONOMIC MEETING, PARTY, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ARMENIA REPUBLIC, PARTY, CONCERNING ENCOURAGEMENT AND THE RECIPROCORD OF INVESTMENTS
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium,
acting both in his name and in the name
of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,
under existing agreements,
the Walloon Government,
the Flemish Government,
and the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, on the one hand,
and
the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on the other hand
(hereinafter referred to as the "Contracting Parties"),
wishing to strengthen their economic cooperation by creating favourable conditions for the realization of investments by investors of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party,
agreed that:
ARTICLE 1
DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this Agreement:
1. The term "investors" means:
(a) any natural person who, according to the law of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Armenia is considered a citizen of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Armenia respectively;
(b) any legal entity incorporated in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Armenia and having its head office in the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Armenia respectively.
2. The term "investments" means any assets, such as direct or indirect cash, in kind or in services, invested or reinvested in any sector of economic activity, whatever it is.
These include, but are not limited to, investments within the meaning of this Agreement:
(a) movable and immovable property and other real rights such as mortgages, privileges, leases, usufructs and similar rights;
(b) shares, shares and other forms of participation in the capital of corporations incorporated in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties;
(c) obligations, receivables and rights to all benefits of economic value;
(d) copyright, industrial property rights, names filed and the trade fund;
(e) concessions of public or contractual law, including those relating to prospecting, culture, extraction or exploitation of natural resources.
No change in the legal form in which assets and capital have been invested or reinvested will affect their investment quality within the meaning of this Agreement.
3. The term "income" refers to the amounts generated by an investment and, in particular, not exclusively, the profits, interests, capital increments, dividends or royalties.
4. The term "territory" means:
(a) in respect of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, the territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, as well as the maritime zones, that is, the marine and submarine zones that extend beyond the territorial waters of the State concerned and on which the State exercises, in accordance with international law, its sovereign rights and jurisdiction for the purposes of exploration,
(b) with regard to the Republic of Armenia, the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
ARTICLE 2
PROMOTION OF INVESTMENTS
1. Each Contracting Party shall encourage investment in its territory by investors from the other Contracting Party and admit such investments in accordance with its legislation.
2. In particular, each Contracting Party shall authorize, in accordance with its legislation, the conclusion and execution of licence contracts and trade, administrative or technical assistance agreements, provided that such activities are related to investments.
ARTICLE 3
PROTECTION OF INVESTMENTS
1. All direct or indirect investments made by investors of one of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy fair and equitable treatment in the territory of the other Contracting Party.
2. Subject to the measures necessary for the maintenance of public order, these investments will enjoy constant security and protection, excluding any unjustified or discriminatory measures that may hinder, in law or in fact, the management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or liquidation of such investments.
ARTICLE 4
CESSION OF INVESTMENTS AND INDEMNISATION Y RELATIVE
1. Each of the Contracting Parties undertakes not to take any measures of expropriation or nationalization or any other measure whose effect is to directly or indirectly dispossess the investors of the other Contracting Party of their investments in its territory.
2. If public utility, security or national interest requirements warrant a derogation from paragraph 1, the following conditions shall be met:
(a) measures shall be taken in accordance with a legal procedure;
(b) they will not be discriminatory or contrary to a specific commitment;
(c) they shall be provided with provisions for payment of compensation in accordance with the legislation of each Contracting Party.
3. The amount of the allowance will be the effective value of the investments on the day before the measures were taken or made public.
Such allowances shall be paid in the currency of the State of which the investor is a national or in any other convertible currency. They will be paid without delay and will be freely transferable. They will be of interest to the normal commercial rate from the date of the fixing of their amount to that of their payment.
4. Investors of one of the Contracting Parties whose investments would have suffered damage from war or other armed conflict, revolution, state of national emergency or revolt in the territory of the other Contracting Party, shall, on the part of the other Contracting Party, benefit from treatment, with respect to restitution, compensation, compensation or other compensation, which shall be at least equal to that granted by the latter Contracting Party plus
5. For substances regulated by this Article, each Contracting Party shall grant to investors of the other Contracting Party at least equal treatment to that which it reserves in its territory to investors of the most favoured nation. Such treatment would in no way be less favourable than that recognized by the general rules of international law.
ARTICLE 5
TRANSFERTS
1. Each Contracting Party shall grant investors of the other Contracting Party, after they have fulfilled their tax obligations, the free transfer of all payments relating to an investment, including:
(a) amounts intended to establish, maintain or develop investment;
(b) amounts intended for the settlement of contractual obligations, including amounts necessary for the reimbursement of borrowings, royalties and other payments arising from licences, franchises, concessions and other similar fees, as well as the remuneration of expatriated personnel;
(c) Investment income;
(d) the proceeds of the total or partial liquidation of investments, including capital gains or increases;
(e) compensation paid pursuant to section 4.
2. Individuals from each of the Contracting Parties authorized to work in the territory of the other Contracting Party under an investment made by an investor of one of the Contracting Parties will also be allowed to make transfers.
3. Transfers will be made in a freely convertible currency, in the course applicable to cash transactions in the currency used.
4. Each of the Contracting Parties shall issue the necessary authorizations to ensure without delay the execution of transfers, without any other charges than the usual fees and fees.
5. The guarantees provided for in this Article shall be at least equal to those granted to investors of the most favoured nation.
ARTICLE 6
SUBROGATION
1. If one of the Contracting Parties or a public body of the Contracting Party pays compensation to its own investors under a particular investment guarantee, the other Contracting Party shall recognize that the rights of investors are transferred to the Contracting Party or the public body concerned, in their capacity as insurer.
2. With respect to the rights transferred, the other Contracting Party may apply the obligations that are legally or contractually binding on the insurer subject to the rights of the indemnified investors.
ARTICLE 7
APPLICABLE REGLES
Where an investment issue is governed both by this Agreement and by the national legislation of one of the Contracting Parties or by international conventions currently in force or contracted in the future by the Contracting Parties, the investors of the other Contracting Party may avail themselves of the provisions that are most favourable to them.
ARTICLE 8
SPECIAL AGREEMENTS
1. Investments that have been the subject of a particular agreement between one of the Contracting Parties and investors of the other Contracting Party shall be governed by the provisions of this Agreement and those of that particular agreement.
2. Each Contracting Party undertakes to ensure at any time compliance with its obligations with respect to investors of the other Contracting Party.
ARTICLE 9
REGULATIONS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS
1. Any investment dispute between an investor of one of the Contracting Parties and the other Contracting Party shall be subject to a written notification, accompanied by a sufficiently dismantled aide-memoire on the part of the most diligent party.
To the extent possible, the parties will attempt to resolve the dispute through negotiation, possibly using the expert advice of a third party, or by conciliation between the Contracting Parties through diplomatic channels.
2. In the absence of amicable settlement by direct arrangement between the parties to the dispute or by diplomatic conciliation within six months of its notification, the dispute shall be submitted, at the option of the investor, to the competent jurisdiction of the State where the investment has been made, or to international arbitration.
To this end, each Contracting Party shall give its early and irrevocable consent to any dispute being submitted to that arbitration. This consent implies that they do not demand the exhaustion of domestic administrative or judicial remedies.
3. In case of recourse to international arbitration, the dispute shall be submitted to one of the following arbitration bodies, at the investor's choice:
- to an ad hoc arbitration tribunal, established in accordance with the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on Commercial Law (C.N.U.D.C.I.);
- at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (C.I.R.D.I.), established by the Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States, opened for signature in Washington, D.C., on 18 March 1965, when each State Party to this Agreement shall be a member of that Agreement.
As long as this condition is not met, each Contracting Party agrees that the dispute is subject to arbitration in accordance with the C.I.R.D.I. Supplementary Mechanism Regulations;
- the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris;
- at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
If the arbitration procedure has been initiated by a Contracting Party, the Contracting Party shall, in writing, invite the investor concerned to express his or her choice with respect to the arbitration body that must be seized of the dispute.
4. None of the Contracting Parties, a party to a dispute, shall raise any objection, at any stage of the arbitration proceedings or the execution of an arbitration award, as the investor, an opposing party to the dispute, would have received compensation covering all or part of its losses in the execution of an insurance policy or the guarantee provided for in Article 6 of this Agreement.
5. The arbitral tribunal shall rule on the basis of the domestic law of the Contracting Party party to the dispute in the territory of which the investment is located, including the rules relating to conflicts of laws, as well as on the basis of the provisions of this Agreement, the terms of the particular agreement possibly concluded with respect to the investment and principles of international law.
6. Arbitration awards will be final and binding for the parties to the dispute. Each Contracting Party undertakes to enforce the awards in accordance with its national legislation.
ARTICLE 10
NATIONAL AND NATIONAL TREATMENT
For all matters relating to the processing of investments, investors from each Contracting Party will benefit, on the territory of the other Contracting Party, from the treatment of the most favoured nation.
With regard to exploitation, management, maintenance, use, enjoyment, sale or any other form of investment alienation, each Contracting Party shall grant in its territory to investors of the other Contracting Party a treatment that will not be less favourable than that granted to its own investors or investors of any third State, if that treatment is more favourable.
Such treatment shall not extend to the privileges granted by a Contracting Party to investors of a third State, by virtue of its participation or association in a free trade zone, a customs union, a common market or any other form of regional economic organization.
The provisions of this section do not apply to tax matters.
ARTICLE 11
DIFFERENDS BETWEEN THE CONTRACTING PARTIES CONCERNING INTERPRETATION OR THE APPPLICATION OF THE PRESENT AGREEMENT
1. Any dispute relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be resolved, if possible, by diplomatic means.
2. In the absence of a diplomatic settlement, the dispute will be submitted to a joint commission, composed of representatives of the two Parties. The meeting will be held at the request of the most expeditious and unjustified Party.
3. If the joint commission cannot resolve the dispute, the dispute shall be submitted, at the request of either Contracting Party, to an arbitral tribunal constituted, for each particular case, as follows:
Each Contracting Party shall designate an arbitrator within two months of the date on which one of the Contracting Parties has indicated to the other of its intention to submit the dispute to arbitration. Within two months of their designation, the two arbitrators shall jointly appoint a third-country national who shall serve as president of the arbitral tribunal.
If these deadlines have not been observed, one or the other Contracting Party shall invite the President of the International Court of Justice to make the necessary appointment or appointments.
If the President of the International Court of Justice is a national of either Contracting Party or of a State with which one or the other Contracting Party does not maintain diplomatic relations, or if, for another reason, the Vice-President of the International Court of Justice shall be invited to make the necessary appointment or appointments.
4. The court shall establish its own rules of procedure. Its decisions shall be taken by a majority vote; they shall be final and binding for Contracting Parties.
5. Each Contracting Party shall bear the costs associated with the designation of its arbitrator. The disbursements inherent in the designation of the third arbitrator and the operating costs of the court shall be borne by the Contracting Parties equally.
ARTICLE 12
INVESTMENTS
This Agreement shall also apply to investments made prior to its entry into force by investors of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party in accordance with the laws and regulations of the other Contracting Party.
ARTICLE 13
AMENDMENTS AND MODIFICATIONS
This Agreement may be amended and amended by mutual consent of the Contracting Parties. Amendments and amendments will take the form of additional protocols and form an inseparable part of the Agreement. Amendments and amendments shall enter into force as prescribed by Article 14 of this Agreement.
ARTICLE 14
BACKGROUND AND DURE
1. This Agreement shall enter into force one month from the date on which the Contracting Parties have exchanged their instruments of ratification. It will remain in force for a period of ten years.
Unless one of the Contracting Parties denounces it at least six months before the expiry of its validity period, it shall be automatically extended for a period of ten years, each Contracting Party reserves the right to denounce it by a notification made at least six months before the expiration date of the current validity period.
2. With respect to investments made prior to the expiry date of this Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement shall remain applicable to them for a period of ten years from the expiry date.
In faith, the undersigned representatives, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Done in Brussels on 7 June 2001, in two original copies, each in French, Dutch, English and Armenian, all texts being equally authentic. The English language text will prevail in the event of a discrepancy of interpretation.