ISSN: 2521-2583
Affiliations: Principal Legal Officer, United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, and Principal Assistant Secretary of the Sixth Committee and the International Law Commission
Source: South African Yearbook of International Law, 2017, p. 289 – 319
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ISSN: 2521-2583
Affiliations: Professor of International Law, University of Pretoria. Member of the UN International Law Commission.
Source: South African Yearbook of International Law, 2017, p. 269 – 288
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ISSN: 2521-2583
Affiliations: Professor, Department of Mercantile Law, College of Law, University of South Africa
Source: South African Yearbook of International Law, 2017, p. 220 – 265
In 2015, the OECD issued its 15 Action Measures to curtail Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS); which is intended to ensure that profits are taxed where the economic activities generating those profits are performed and where value is created. The 15 Action Measures contained BEPS measures pertaining to double taxation agreements (DTAs). Adopting these measures would require the renegotiation of thousands of DTAs that countries have entered into. The sheer number of the DTAs countries have entered into would make updating the current tax treaty network highly burdensome, time consuming and expensive. Under Action 15, the OECD developed a multilateral instrument (MLI)as a mechanism to swiftly implement the tax treaty BEPS Measures and would have the same effects as a simultaneous renegotiation of thousands of DTAs. This article seeks to explain the procedures, administration and interpretation of the MLI. It also considers the procedural, administrative, interpretational and political challenges that could impact on the effectiveness of the MLI from a developing country perspective. The article explains the pros and cons of some of the options to the MLI and it provides general recommendations regarding the choices that developing countries might consider when signing the MLI. Finally, it concludes by providing recommendations on the matters developing countries should be cautious about as they consider whether to sign the MLI.
ISSN: 2521-2583
Affiliations: None
Source: South African Yearbook of International Law, 2017, p. 200 – 219
This article explores the work of the United Nations Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises (Working Group) as well as the open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with respect to Human Rights OEIGWG). The main purpose of the Working Group is to promote the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It does this by engaging with stakeholders such as governments, civil society, human rights institutions, UN agencies, TNCs and other business enterprises, to ensure that the relevant support and guidance is provided to effectively implement the Guiding Principles. The OEIGWG was established by the Human Rights Council and mandated to produce an international legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of TNCs and other business enterprises. The process of establishing such an instrument is still at an early stage and the article analyses the work of the first few sessions of this working group.
ISSN: 2521-2583
Affiliations: Water and Environment Portfolio Manager for the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse
Source: South African Yearbook of International Law, 2017, p. 169 – 199
With South Africa being the latest African coastal state to receive recommendations from the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on its submission to extend its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its mainland territory, this article provides a comprehensive view of the claims to an extended shelf by African coastal states. As such, it highlights the additional access to non-living resources that African coastal states may enjoy in the region, and thus, among other things, the economic benefits that may ensue. The article also raises the challenge of delimiting maritime boundaries between states with adjacent or opposite coasts in light of claims to an extended continental shelf and provides a synopsis of the nature of maritime boundary disputes on the continent.