WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/WGTI/W/80
16 June 1999
(99-2448)
Working Group on the Relationship
between Trade and InvestmentOriginal:  English
DEFINITION OF INVESTMENT
Communication from Australia
The following communication, dated 7 June 1999, has been received from the Permanent
Mission of Australia with the request that it be circulated to Members.
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1. The definition of investment used in Australia 's model Investment Protection and Promotion
Agreement (IPPA) and in many bilateral agreements is as follows:
(a) "investment" means every kind of asset, owned or controlled by nationals of one
contracting party and admitted by the other contracting party subject to its laws andinvestment policies applicable from time to time, and includes:
(i) tangible and intangible property, including rights such as mortgages, liens or
other pledges;
(ii) shares, stocks, bonds, debentures, and any form of participation in a
company;
(iii) a loan or other claim to money, or a claim to performance having economic
value;
(iv) intellectual and industrial property rights, including rights with respect to
copyright, patents, trademarks, trade names, industrial designs, trade secrets,
know-how and goodwill;
(v) business concessions and any other rights required to conduct economic
activity and having economic activity conferred by law or under a contract,including rights to engage in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and animal
husbandry, to search for, extract or exploit natural resources, and to
manufacture, use and sell products;  and
(vi) activities associated with investments, such as the organization and operation
of business facilities, the acquisition, exercise and the disposition of propertyrights, including intellectual property rights, the raising of funds, and the
purchase and sale of foreign exchange.
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