How Unshell Directive will affect tax and investment treaties?
With this question in mind, HHP partners Hans van den Hurk and Nikos Lavranos carried out the?"Webinar on the impact of the EU Unshell proposal on investment treaty protection."
It was first explained how Unshell Directive classifies companies based on?substance criteria?and the consequences of this classification considering different?business models. Subsequently, it was explored the possible interactions of this European directive with tax treaties and bilateral investment treaties - BIT, leading to the following Main Conclusion:?
·?????????The aim of the Unshell Directive is clear, namely, to?take away as many rights as possible from companies?that do not meet the substantial business activities requirements.
·?????????The way the directive proposal is now formulated makes it easy to interpret and apply the future directive in such a manner that it?excludes such shell entities from any BIT protection.
·?????????Clearly, it is unacceptable under international law to?take away existing BITs rights?through the backdoor of EU secondary legislation.?
?Willing to learn more?
Watch the entire video here!