Legal Problems of Codes of Conduct for Multinational Enterprises (Studies in Transnational Economic Law, V. 1)

On September 21, 1992, the Development Committee, a joint ministerial committee of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank & the International Monetary Fund, without any reservations, issued a set of universal guidelines on the legal treatment of foreign investment & called those Guidelines to the attention of the members of these institutions. The text of the guidelines was prepared by a small working group chaired by Ibrahim Shihata, the World Bank's Vice President & General Counsel. According to Mr. Shihata, the success of this endeavor was 'the product of changing realities & perceptions about foreign investment & the benefits it can bring to global economy & the economies of developing countries in particular. In a broader sense, the great transformations of the late eighties & early nineties created a new environment which made possible agreement on many issues thought earlier to defy common solutions.' This book provides an accurate record & a personal account by the author of the steps which led to the issuance by the Development Committee of the Guidelines on the Treatment of Foreign Investment & a first hand explanation of the text of the Guidelines (which is published in the book in three languages). The book also contains the studies which preceded the preparations of that text & the official reports which explain its rationale & contents. The book may therefore be read as a complement to the author's earlier book on MIGA & Foreign Investment (1988). Together, the two books provide detailed accounts of the continued efforts by the World Bank to encourage the flow of international investments through specific mechanisms which complement its financing, catalytic & advisory roles in pursuance of one of its main purposes, which is 'to promote foreign private investment.'Horn, Norbert is the author of 'Legal Problems of Codes of Conduct for Multinational Enterprises (Studies in Transnational Economic Law, V. 1)', published 1980 under ISBN 9789026811272 and ISBN 9026811276.