Multilateral agreement on investment: lessons for the WTO from the failed OECD-negotiations

Economic, political and legal developments in the 1990s occasioned OECD members to start negotiations on a multilateral agreement on investment (MAI) in 1995. Three years later these negotiations broke down. While internal disagreements abounded, the opposition from parts of civil society had an important role to play. This paper examines the radical critique by NGOs and the more qualified critique by parliamentary enquiries. It argues that both suffer from a number of misperceptions on the consequences the MAI would have had in reality. It suggests what some of the real problems with the draft treaty might have been. Understanding of these issues is important should negotiations move on to the WTO some time.