Venezuelan gov't drafts reform of investment protection law

The Venezuelan government, through the Enabling Law, intends to amend the Investment Protection and Promotion Law.

Ricardo Sanguino, the president of the Committee on Finance, National Assembly, said that ending 2011 the Ministry of Trade submitted a draft law to the National Assembly for consideration by lawmakers. The draft law is still under revision, Sanguino noted.

The pro-government deputy (ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela) did not provide details about the amendment. In view of Venezuela's decision to withdraw from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid), the Executive Office has been drafting legal instruments to ward off the effects of such move.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted to President Hugo Chávez a memorandum account in the second half of 2011 suggesting the denunciation of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the Icsid Convention). The ministry reported that it had drafted "framework clauses" to be submitted to the countries with which Venezuela has signed agreements. The move seeks renegotiation of dispute settlement terms.

Although the government has the power to draft laws, the National Assembly prepared its own agenda. In this sense, Sanguino said that the agenda of the National Assembly in 2012 includes an Antitrust Law and a Seeds Law.