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Towards a Constitutional Law Framework for Foreign Direct Investments and Intellectual Property Rights Reform: The Case of Bangladesh

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The Constitutional Law of Bangladesh

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Abstract

When Bangladesh is moving towards a smooth transition from a least developed country to a developing country and aims to accomplish the global target of sustainable development goals by 2030, there are certain areas which need particular attention. This chapter focuses on two of such important areas: foreign direct investment (FDI) and intellectual property (IP), that directly contribute to escalating economic growth. It examines within the constitutional law framework what reforms need to be undertaken for FDI and IP law to meet the challenges for Bangladesh in fulfilling its target. The chapter investigates how (a) a normative framework for FDI can be developed based on the constitutional law framework; and (b) its bilateral investment treaties and international investment agreements becoming legal yardsticks for domestic law and policy regulating the FDI. It also (a) emphasises the recognition of IP law within the constitutional framework; and (b) explores the constitutional sources, limitations, and international obligations on the State to make IP law. Finally, it identifies the gaps and challenges of the legal regime of FDI and IP within the constitutional law framework of Bangladesh and recommends reforms required to address these gaps and challenges to meet the needs of time.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    IISD, ‘Bangladesh, UN Consider Expected LDC Graduation in 2024’ (IISD, 18 December 2018) <https://sdg.iisd.org/news/bangladesh-un-consider-expected-ldc-graduation-in-2024/> accessed 12 August 2020; Fahmida Khatun, ‘LDC GRADUATION: What it means for Bangladesh’ The Daily Star (Dhaka, 20 March 2018) <https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/macro-mirror/ldc-graduation-what-it-means-bangladesh-1550542> accessed 12 August 2020.

  2. 2.

    UNCTAD, World Investment Report (UNCTAD 2018) <https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/wir2018_en.pdf> accessed 12 August 2020; Niaz Mahmud, ‘World Investment Report: Bangladesh second largest FDI recipient in South Asia’ Dhaka Tribune (Dhaka, 24 June 2019) <https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/economy/2019/06/24/report-bangladesh-tops-fdi-list-in-south-asia-in-2018> accessed 12 August 2020; ‘Bangladesh Foreign Direct Investment’ (Trading Economy 2020) <https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/foreign-direct-investment> accessed 12 August 2020.

  3. 3.

    <https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/gdp-growth> accessed 12 August 2020.

  4. 4.

    World Bank, Global Economic Prospects (June 2020, Washington, DC) <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33748> and <https://tbsnews.net/economy/world-bank-forecasts-only-16-gdp-growth-bangladesh-90592> accessed 12 August 2020.

  5. 5.

    The New Investment Policy 1974 <http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/59.htm> accessed 14 August 2020.

  6. 6.

    For the text, <http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-597.html> accessed 14 August 2020.

  7. 7.

    Text of the BIDA Act is available only in Bangla <http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-1194.html> accessed 14 August 2020.

  8. 8.

    The Government Published a guideline for the foreign investors for investment in economic zones in 2017 <https://www.beza.gov.bd/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Investors-Guide.pdf> accessed 14 August 2020.

  9. 9.

    BIDA New Investment Handbook 2020 <https://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2020/08/06/pm-work-hard-to-make-investment-atmosphere-more-attractive> accessed 16 August 2020.

  10. 10.

    BIDA (n 7).

  11. 11.

    <http://bida.gov.bd/?page_id=494> accessed 14 August 2020.

  12. 12.

    ibid.; R Islam, ‘Mapping the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Regime of Bangladesh’ in J Chaisse, L Choukroune and S Jusoh (eds), Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy (Springer, Singapore, 2020) 2709.

  13. 13.

    ICSID Convention <https://icsid.worldbank.org/resources/rules-and-regulations/convention/overview> accessed 14 August 2020. Bangladesh ratified the Convention on 26 April 1980.

  14. 14.

    <https://www.miga.org/sites/default/files/archive/Documents/MIGA%20Convention%20(April%202018).pdf> accessed 14 August 2020. Bangladesh ratified it in 1987.

  15. 15.

    NY Convention <http://www.newyorkconvention.org/english> accessed 14 August 2020. Bangladesh ratified it on 6 May 1992.

  16. 16.

    <http://www.mccibd.org/images/uploadimg/act_and_policy/corporate_governance/The-Arbitration-Act-2001.pdf> accessed 14 August 2020.

  17. 17.

    WAIPA <https://waipa.org> accessed 14 August 2020.

  18. 18.

    WIPO <https://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html> accessed 14 August 2020.

  19. 19.

    WTO <https://www.wto.org> accessed 14 August 2020.

  20. 20.

    It is yet to come into force. Its members are China, Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Sri Lanka, <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/2591/download> accessed 14 August 2020.

  21. 21.

    Came into force on 1 January 2006. This is a trade agreement between all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SARRC) countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/2671/download> accessed 14 August 2020.

  22. 22.

    Cooperation Agreement Between the European Community and Bangladesh on Partnership and Development of 22 May 2000 came into force on 1 March 2001, <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/2399/download> accessed 14 August 2020.

  23. 23.

    OIC Investment Agreement <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/2399/download> accessed 14 August 2020.

  24. 24.

    On proliferation of BIT program, see S Jandhyala et al., ‘Three Waves of BITs: The Global Diffusion of Foreign Investment Policy’ (2011) 55(6) The Journal of Conflict Resolution 1047–73; P Bekker and A Ogawa, ‘The Impact of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Proliferation on Demand for Investment Insurance: Reassessing Political Risk Insurance After the “BIT Bang”’ (2013) 28(2) ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal 314–50.

  25. 25.

    BIDA <http://bida.gov.bd/?page_id=2552> accessed 14 August 2020. The Bangladesh-Belarus MOU on agriculture and food <https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-235653> accessed 14 August 2020 and an Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation <http://mfa.gov.by/en/press/news_mfa/e33df1a3af362d77.html> accessed 14 August 2020.

  26. 26.

    Bangladesh Ministry of Industries <https://moind.gov.bd/site/page/f7aa7575-5196-476b-907b-3ea65e885717/Bilateral-Agreements> accessed 14 August 2020. The Bangladesh-Kuwait BIT of 4 May 2016.

  27. 27.

    <http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-216/section-2720.html> accessed 12 July 2022.

  28. 28.

    (1997) 17 BLD (AD) 1–33.

  29. 29.

    Laws of Bangladesh, <http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-86.html> accessed 6 June 2022.

  30. 30.

    ibid.

  31. 31.

    Ridwanul Hoque, ‘Taking justice seriously: judicial public interest and constitutional activism in Bangladesh’ (2006) 15(4) Contemporary South Asia 399–422.

  32. 32.

    Prabhash Ranjan, ‘COVID-19, India and Indirect Expropriation: Is the Police Powers Doctrine a Reliable Defence?’ (2020) 13(1) Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal 205–28: Rachel Nathanson, ‘The Revocation of Clean-Energy Investment Economic-Support Systems as Indirect Expropriation Post-Nykomb: A Spanish Case Analysis’ (2012–13) 98 Iowa Law Review 863.

  33. 33.

    <https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/treaty-files/274/download> accessed 14 July 2022.

  34. 34.

    <https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda> accessed 12 July 2022.

  35. 35.

    <http://nda.erd.gov.bd/en/c/publication/national-sustainable-development-strategy-nsds-2010-2021> accessed 12 July 2022.

  36. 36.

    <https://bangladeshbiosafety.org/bangladesh-doc/national-environment-policy-2018/> accessed 12 July 2022.

  37. 37.

    Islam (n 12).

  38. 38.

    Daniel Chow and Edward Lee, International Intellectual Property Law (West Academic Publishing 2012) 1–15.

  39. 39.

    The preamble pledges ‘that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to realize through the democratic process a socialist society, free from exploitation a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens’.

  40. 40.

    Art 11 provides that ‘The Republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of the human person shall be guaranteed’.

  41. 41.

    Muhammad Ekramul Haque, The Bangladesh Constitutional Framework and Human Rights’ (2011) 22(1) Dhaka University Law Journal 1. Bill of rights refers to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (UDHR), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (ICESCR).

  42. 42.

    The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of 4 November 1950 and entered into force 3 September 1953, as amended by Protocol Nos 11 and 14 (entered into force 1 November 1998 and 1 June 2010) 213 UNTS 222 and art 17(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union [2010] OJ C83/389.

  43. 43.

    Article 42 of the Constitution of Bangladesh maintains: ‘(1) Subject to any restrictions imposed by law, every citizen shall have the right to acquire, hold, transfer or otherwise dispose of property, and no property shall be compulsorily acquired, nationalised or requisitioned save by authority of law.’

  44. 44.

    (2011) 9 SCC 01.

  45. 45.

    Mahmudul Islam, Constitutional Law of Bangladesh (Mullick Brothers, Dhaka 2012) 1026.

  46. 46.

    (2001) 21 BLD (AD) 69.

  47. 47.

    (2009) 14 BLC 703 [45].

  48. 48.

    (2011) 31 BLD (HCD) 324.

  49. 49.

    Ershad v Bangladesh (n 46).

  50. 50.

    M Shah Alam, ‘Enforcement of International Human Rights Law by Domestic Courts: A Theoretical and Practical Study’ (2006) 53(3) Netherlands International Law Review 399, 425.

  51. 51.

    Masdar Hossain v Bangladesh (1998) 13 BLD (HCD) 558 (Md Mozammel Hoque J).

  52. 52.

    The three-step test was first established in relation to the exclusive right of reproduction in article 9(2) of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1967 and subsequently modified by the TRIPs Agreement (art 13), WIPO Copyright Treaty (art 10), and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (art 16(2)).

  53. 53.

    According to TRIPS art 7, the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute … to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations. TRIPS art 8 recognises the rights of Members to adopt measures for public health and other public interest reasons and to prevent the abuse of intellectual property rights, provided that such measures are consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.

  54. 54.

    Australia – Certain Measures concerning Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Other Plain Packaging Requirements Applicable to Tobacco Products and Packaging, WT/DS435/AB/R WT/DS441/AB/R, AB Report of 9 June 2020.

  55. 55.

    Ravindra Bhat, ‘Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights law – An Overview of the Indian Law’, Syndicate of the Press of Cambridge University v. B.D. Bhandari, 2011 Division Bench, Delhi High Court) (2018) 30(1) IIMB Management Review 51–61, 52.

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Chapter in Edited Book

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Internet Source

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Shima Zaman & Rumana Islam

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  1. Shima Zaman
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  2. Rumana Islam
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  1. Emeritus Professor of Law, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    M Rafiqul Islam

  2. Department of Law, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Muhammad Ekramul Haque

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Zaman, S., Islam, R. (2023). Towards a Constitutional Law Framework for Foreign Direct Investments and Intellectual Property Rights Reform: The Case of Bangladesh. In: Islam, M.R., Haque, M.E. (eds) The Constitutional Law of Bangladesh. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2579-7_15

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