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16 JULY 1996. - An Act to approve the Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Republic of Mongolia concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, made in Brussels on 3 March 1992 (1) (2) (3)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We cancel the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77, paragraph 1, 6, of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Republic of Mongolia concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, which took place in Brussels on 3 March 1992, will come out its full and full effect.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 16 July 1996.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
E. DERYCKE
Minister of Foreign Trade
Ph. MAYSTADT
Seen and sealed the state seal:
Minister of Justice
S. DE CLERCK
____
Note
(1) Session 1995-1996.
Senate:
Documents. - Bill tabled on 29 February 1996, No. 1-273/1. - Report, no. 1-273/2. - Text adopted in session and transmitted to the Chamber, No. 1-273/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of 25 April 1996. - Voting, meeting of 25 April 1996.
Chamber:
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 553/1.
Annales parlementaire . - Discussion, meeting of 11 June 1996. - Vote, meeting of 13 June 1996.
(2) Decree of the Walloon Region of 30 March 1995 (Moniteur belge of 29 April 1995, pp. 11554); Flemish Region Decree of 5 April 1998 (Belgian Monitor of 11 August 1998); Order of the Brussels-Capital Region of 13 April 1995 (Belgian Monitor of 23 June 1995).
(3) The exchange of instruments of ratification took place on 15 March 2000. In accordance with the provisions of Article 14, the Agreement shall enter into force on 15 April 2000. This publication is authoritative. (Clause of 18 September 1997 (pp. 24272-24278) was provided for information).

Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Republic of Mongolia on mutual encouragement and protection of investments
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium, acting both on its behalf and on the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, under existing agreements,
and
The Government of the Republic of Mongolia,
Desirous of strengthening their economic cooperation by creating conditions conducive to the realization of invesitements by nationals of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party,
The following agreed:
Article 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement,
1. the term "investors" means:
(a) any natural person who, according to Belgian, Luxembourg or Mongolian legislation, is considered a citizen of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Mongolia respectively;
(b) any legal entity incorporated in accordance with Belgian, Luxembourg or Mongolian legislation and having its head office in the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the Republic of Mongolia respectively.
2. the term "investment" means any assets, and any direct or indirect intake in cash, in kind or in services, invested or reinvested in any economic activity sector, insofar as the investment has been made in accordance with the laws of the Contracting Party in the territory of which it is located.
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, social shares and all other forms of participation, whether minority or indirect, in the company 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, technical processes, names filed and the trade fund;
(e) concessions of public or contractual law, including those relating to the prospecting, cultivation, extraction or exploitation of natural resources.
No change in the legal form in which assets and capital have been invested or reinvested affects their investment qualification within the meaning of this Agreement.
3. The term "income" refers to the amounts generated by an investment and, in particular, not exclusively, profits, interest, capital increments, dividends, royalties or allowances.
Article 2
Investment promotion
1. Each of the Contracting Parties shall encourage investment in its territory by investors of the other Contracting Party and admit these invesits in accordance with its legislation.
2. In particular, each Contracting Party will authorize the conclusion and execution of licence contracts and trade, administrative or technical assistance agreements, provided that such activities have a relationship with investments.
Article 3
Investment protection
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, such investments shall enjoy constant security and protection, excluding any unjustified or discriminatory measures that may hinder, in law or in fact, their management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or liquidation.
3. The treatment and protection defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 are at least equal to those enjoyed by investors of a third State and are in no way less favourable than those recognized by international law.
4. However, this treatment and protection do 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, customs union, common market or other forms of regional economic organizations.
Article 4
Private and restrictive measures of ownership
1. Each Contracting Party undertakes not to take any measures of expropriation or nationalization or any other measure whose effect is directly or indirectly disposing 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 must be met:
(a) measures shall be taken by law;
(b) they are neither discriminatory nor contrary to a specific commitment;
(c) they have provisions that provide for adequate and effective compensation.
3. The amount of compensation will correspond to the real value of the investments concerned on the day before the measures were taken or made public.
Compensation shall be paid in the currency of the State to which the investor belongs or in any other convertible currency. They will be paid without delay and freely transferable. They will be of interest to the normal commercial rate from the date of their fixation to the date of their payment.
4. Investors of one of the Contracting Parties whose investments have suffered damage due to a wreath 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, receive at least equal treatment to that granted to investors of the most-favoured nation in respect of restitutions compensation, compensation or other damage.
5. For substances regulated by this Article, each Contracting Party shall grant to investors of the other Party at least equal treatment to that 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 international law.
Article 5
Transfers
1. Each Contracting Party, in the territory of which investments have been made by investors of the other Contracting Party, grants these investors the free transfer of their liquid assets, including:
(a) income from investments including profits, interest, capital income, dividends, royalties;
(b) amounts required for the reimbursement of regularly contracted borrowings;
(c) the proceeds of debt collection, the total or partial liquidation of investments, including surplus-values or increases in the capital invested;
(d) compensation paid pursuant to section 4;
(e) royalties and other payments arising from licence fees and commercial, administrative or technical assistance.
2. Nationals of each of the Contracting Parties authorized to work for an approved investment in the territory of the other Contracting Party are also authorized to transfer an appropriate quotity of their remuneration to their countries of origin.
3. 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.
The guarantees provided for in this article shall be at least equal to those granted in similar cases to the most-favoured-nation investors.
Article 6
Exchange rate
1. The transfers referred to in Articles 4 and 5 of this Agreement shall be made at the exchange rates applicable to the date of the Agreement and under the regulation of the exchanges in force in the State in the territory of which the investment was made.
2. These rates will in no way be less favourable than those granted to investors in the most-favoured nation, including by virtue of specific commitments, provided for in any agreements or arrangements made with respect to investment protection.
3. In all cases, the rates applied will be fair and fair.
Article 7
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 recognizes that the rights of the indemnified investors have been transferred to the Contracting Party or to the public body concerned, in its capacity as an insurer.
In the same way as investors, and within the limits of the rights so transferred, the insurer may, by subrogation, exercise and assert the rights of such investors and their claims.
The subrogation of rights also extends to the transfer and arbitration rights referred to in Articles 5 and 10.
These rights and shares may be exercised by the insurer within the limits of the quotity of the risk covered by the guarantee contract, and by the beneficiary investor of the guarantee, within the limits of the quotity of the risk not covered by the contract.
2. With respect to transferred rights, the other Contracting Party may apply to the insurer, which is subrogated in the rights of compensation investors, the obligations that are legally or contractually binding on the insurers.
Article 8
Rules applicable
Where an investment issue is governed both by this Agreement and by the national legislation of one of the Contracting Parties or by existing international conventions or endorsed by the Parties in the future, investors of the other Contracting Party may avail themselves of the provisions that are most favourable to them.
Article 9
Special agreements
1. Investments that have been the subject of a particular agreement between one of the Contracting Parties and the other Party's investors will be governed by the provisions of this Agreement and those of that particular agreement.
2. Each of the Contracting Parties shall at any time ensure compliance with its commitments to investors of the other Contracting Party.
Article 10
Settlement of investment disputes
1. Any investment dispute between an investor of one of the Contracting Parties and the other Contracting Party shall be notified in writing, accompanied by a sufficiently detailed aide-memoire on the part of the most diligent party.
To the extent possible, this dispute shall be settled amicably between the parties to the dispute and in default by conciliation between the Parties contracted by the diplomatic channel.
2. In the absence of a friendly settlement by direct arrangement between the parties to the dispute or by diplomatic conciliation within six months of its notification, the dispute is subject, with the exception of any other legal recourse, to the international arbitration of the International Centre for the Settlement of the Disputes relating to Investments (C.I.R.D.I.), created by "the Washington Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States"
To that end, each Contracting Party shall give its early and irrevocable consent to any dispute being submitted to that Centre. This consent implies that they do not demand the exhaustion of domestic administrative or judicial remedies.
3. 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 7 of this Agreement.
4. The arbitral tribunal shall rule on the basis of the national 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, the provisions of this Agreement, the terms of special agreement which would have been reached with respect to the investment, as well as the principles of international law.
5. Arbitration awards are final and binding for the parties to the dispute. Each Contracting Party undertakes to enforce the awards in accordance with its national legislation.
Article 11
Most-favoured nation
For all matters relating to the treatment of investissements, investors from each of the Contracting Parties shall benefit, in the territory of the other Party, from the treatment of the most favoured nation.
Article 12
Differends of interpretation or application between Contracting Parties
1. Any dispute relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be resolved, if possible, by diplomatic means.
2. If the dispute is not resolved by diplomatic means, the dispute shall be submitted to a joint commission composed of representatives of the two Parties; the Party shall meet at the request of the most diligent and without undue delay.
3. If the joint commission cannot resolve the dispute, it shall be submitted, at the request of either of the Contracting Parties, to an arbitration procedure implemented, 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 designate a third State national who shall be president of the College of Arbitrators.
If these deadlines have not been observed, either Contracting Party shall invite the President of the International Court of Justice to proceed with the appointment of the arbitrator or non-designated arbitrators.
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 is prevented from exercising that function, the Vice-President of the International Court of Justice shall be invited to proceed with that appointment.
4. The college will set 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 college shall be borne by the Contracting Parties equally.
Article 13
Previous investments
This Agreement also applies 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 its laws and regulations.
Article 14
Entry into force and duration
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.
2. It shall be renewed for an indefinite period, if no Contracting Party communicates, in writing, to the other Party its intention to terminate it, at least one year before the expiry of the period referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.
3. After the initial period of validity of this Agreement, each Contracting Party may, at any time, decide to terminate it, provided that it is notified in writing to the other Party and at least one year's notice.
4. With respect to investments made prior to the expiry date of this Agreement, the provisions of this Agreement shall remain in force for twenty years from that expiry date.
In faith, undersigned representatives, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Done in Brussels on 3 March 1992, in two original copies, each in French, Dutch and Mongolian languages, the three texts being equally authentic.
For the Belgian Economic Union:
Robert Urbain, Minister of Foreign Trade.
For the Government of the Republic of Mongolia:
Sed-Ochiryn Bayarbaatar, Minister of Trade and Industry.