For the nervous types out there and with all credit to Lalive...

For the nervous types out there and with all credit to Lalive and not that I think any of this will come to pass...

Foreign investors can benefit from three types of international protection for their investment in Guinea.

First, Guinea is a party to 10 bilateral investment protection treaties (“BITs”). Most of these BITs provide substantive protections to qualifying foreign investors having made investments within the territory of Guinea (e.g. protection against unlawful expropriation and unfair and unequitable treatment, full protection and security, notably in times of insurrection and riots, etc.). They can also provide that disputes with the State relating to investments be resolved through international arbitration instead of having to resort to local courts. Guinea is also a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Investment Agreement, which likewise provides for substantive protections and the availability of conciliation or international arbitration to settle investment disputes. There are, however, still some doubts as to the OIC’s ability to administer disputes involving its member States.

Second, Guinea’s Mining Code includes provisions enabling investors in the mining sector to resolve disputes with the State relating to their investments through international arbitration. Guinea also implemented an Investment Code, which includes protections, notably against unlawful expropriation, for foreign investors and the possibility to resolve disputes with the State through several arbitration mechanisms, including the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) or OHADA’s Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA).

Third, contracts entered into with the State or State entities can prove a strong protection for foreign investors, provided that they stipulate the possibility to resort to neutral and delocalized dispute resolution mechanisms (such as international arbitration). Key contractual protections include stabilization clauses (clauses freezing the legal framework applicable at the date of signature of the contract, thereby negating any effect of legislative changes intervening during the life of the contract), the renunciation to sovereign immunities, obligations on the State to assist the foreign investor to obtain the necessary authorizations for its activities, or even substantive international law protections (such as fair and equitable treatment).