Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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359. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the background and reasons for the termination of the Czech Republic-Ireland Bilateral Investment treaty of 1996; the date on which the treaty ceased to be in operation; the lead Government Department responsible for the treaty; the person that formally on behalf of the Government signed off on the ending of the treaty; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12678/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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In 1996, an Agreement ‘for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments’ was signed between Ireland (Minister for Tourism and Trade) and the Czech Republic.     

In 2010 Ireland had only one Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), which was the above Agreement with the Czech Republic. While the Czech Republic had not been an EU member at the time of the agreement in 1996, in 2004 the country had become an EU member and the legal framework under which both countries operated had therefore changed.  The main provisions of the Agreement were terminated in 2010 by a formal diplomatic note received from the Czechs.  A Government Decision in 2011 authorised the Minister for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Innovation, to arrange for the termination of the BIT with the Czech Republic.  All provisions of the BIT were terminated with effect from 1 December 2011, which was one month after the notification by the Czech Embassy that their internal legal procedures had been completed.  

The European Commission at the time were looking at the issue of Intra-EU BITs and had taken the view that there was no need for agreements of this kind in the Single Market.  

The Commission considers that BITs between EU Member States fragment the single market by conferring rights to some EU investors on a bilateral basis and that their provisions overlap and conflict with EU single market law on cross-border investments.  The Commission requested Member States which continued to have intra-EU BITS to terminate these BITs.