EUROPEAN UNION’S NEW COMPETENCES ON FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AFTER THE LISBON TREATY Maria João Palma Legal Advisor

Presently the EU is promoting two exercises in parallel: 1) The conception of the EU Model BIT – oriented by the principle of maintenance of the protection standard contained within the nationals BITs of the member states;  On-going negotiations: Singapura, Canada and India 2) The discussion of a Regulation which aim is to establish the regime applicable to:  - Existing BITs - the BITs in force before the coming into force of the Treaty of Lisbon that are supposed to be protected by a “grandfather clause” – until the coming into force of a BIT EU;  - Future BITs – celebrated by member states under the EU supervision – “empowerment” – article 2º of the TFUE.  - The special case of the BITs celebrated in the mean time

Directorate-General for Economic Activities Ministry of the Economy and Employment of Portugal Maria João Palma