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18 JUIN 1996. - An Act to approve the Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, signed in Hanoi on 24 January 1991 (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in section 77, paragraph 1^er6° of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, signed in Hanoi on 24 January 1991, will emerge its full and complete effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Brussels, 18 June 1996.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
E. DERYCKE
Minister of Foreign Trade,
P. MAYSTADT
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
T. VAN PARYS
____
Note
(1) Parliamentary references.
(2) Decree of the Walloon Region of 9 April 1998 (Moniteur belge of 22 April 1998, pp. 12322-12323); Flemish Region Decree of 15 July 1997 (Belgian Monitor of 11 September 1997, pp; 23497-23498); Order of the Brussels-Capital Region of 17 April 1997 (Belgian Monitor of 22 August 1997, pp. 21559-21560).
(3) The exchange of instruments of ratification took place on 11 May 1999. In accordance with article 14, this Agreement shall enter into force on 11 June 1999. This publication is believed (Celle du 6 février 1997 (pp. 2251-2256) has been held for information).
Senate.
Session 1995-1996.
Documents. - Bill, tabled on 20 January 1996, No. 1-152/1. - Report, no. 1-152/2. - Text adopted by the Commission, No. 1-152/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of 25 January 1996. - Vote, meeting of 25 January 1996.
House of Representatives.
Session 1995-1996 :
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 398/1. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 398/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion, meeting of 27 March 1996. - Vote, meeting of 28 March 1996.

Agreement between the Union économique belgo-luxembourgesoise and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BELGIUM ROYAUME, acting both on its behalf and on the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, under existing agreements,
and the GOVERNMENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET-NAM, wishing to strengthen their economic cooperation by creating conditions conducive to the realization of investments by nationals of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party,
agreed that:
Article 1^er
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement:
1. the term "investors" means:
(a) "nationals", that is, any natural persons who, according to the laws of the Contracting States, is considered a citizen of Belgium, Luxembourg or Vietnam;
(b) "societies", i.e., any legal entity constituted in accordance with Belgian, Luxembourg or Vietnamese legislation and having its head office in the territory of Belgium, Luxembourg or Vietnam.
2. The term "investments" means any assets or direct or indirect contributions to digital, in kind or in services, invested or reinvested in any sector of economic activity.
Are considered, but not exclusively, as investments within the meaning of this Agreement:
(a) movable and immovable property and any 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 companies 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 amounts generated by an investment and, in particular, not exclusively, profits, interests, capital increments, dividends, royalties or allowances.
Article 2
Investment promotion
1. Each Contracting Party shall encourage investment in its territory by investors of the other Contracting Party and admit such investments 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 report on 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 place or in fact, their management, use, maintenance, enjoyment or liquitation.
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 the 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 organizations.
Article 4
Private and restrictive measures of ownership
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 must be met:
(a) measures shall be taken by law;
(b) they are neither discriminatory nor contrary to a specific commitment;
(c) there are provisions for the payment of 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.
Indeminities are settled 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. 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 loans;
(c) the proceeds of debt collection, the total or partial liquidation of investments, including pluvalues or increases in invested capital;
(d) indeminted persons 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 invisibility 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 the transfers, without at least the torn charges and the usual 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 with respect to investment protection.
3. In any case, the rates applied will be fair and fair.
Article 7
Subrogation
1. If one of the Contracting Parties or a public body of the latter pays indeminities 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 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 the claims thereon.
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 investors of the other Party shall 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, together with sufficient 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 Contracting Parties through diplomatic channels.
2. In the absence of an amicable settlement by direct arrangement between the parties to the dispute or by diplomatic conciliation within six months of its notification, the dispute shall, with the exception of any other legal remedy, be subject to international arbitration.
To this end, each Contracting Party shall give its early and irrevocable consent to any dispute being subject to such arbitration. This consent implies that they do not demand the exhaustion of domestic administrative or judicial remedies.
3. In the event of recourse to international arbitration, the dispute shall be submitted at the request of either party to the dispute, to the arbitration of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (I.C.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 on 18 March 1965, when each State Party to this Agreement. As long as this condition is not fulfilled, each Contracting Party agrees that the dispute be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the ICSID Supplementary Mechanism Regulation.
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, acting in opposition 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.
5. 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 the particular agreement that would have been reached on the investment, as well as the principles of international law.
6. 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 processing of investments, investors from each of the Contracting Parties shall, on the territory of the other Party, benefit from the treatment of the most favoured nation.
Article 12
Different 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 unable to exercise that function, the Vice-President of the International Court of Justice will 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; it will be final and binding for Contracting Parties.
5. Each Contracting Party shall bear the costs associated with the designation of its shelter. 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. However, it does not apply to investments prior to April 30, 1975.
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 remains 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 renewed for a further period of ten years, each Contracting Party reserves the right to denounce it by a notification introduced at least six months before the expiration date of the current validity period.
2. The investments made prior to the expiry date of this Agreement shall remain subject to it for a period of ten years from that date.
In faith, the undersigned representatives, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Made in Hanoi, on 24 January of the year nine hundred nonante-et-un, in double original in French, Dutch and Vietnamese languages.
In the event of a discrepancy between the texts, the French language text will be authentic.
For the Belgian Economic Union: (Signed) Robert Urbain, Minister of Foreign Trade
For the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: (Signed) Vo Dong Giang, Minister Vice-President of the State Committee, Cooperation and Investments.