The legal guarantees to protect foreign investment in Jordan

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JITLP-01-2021-0003
• Published date: 11 October 2021
• Date: 11 October 2021
• Pages: 1-15
• Subject Matter: Strategy,International business,International business law,Economics,International economics,International trade
• Author: Mohamad Ali Helalat

The legal guarantees to protect

foreign investment in Jordan

Mohamad Ali Helalat

Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Maan, Jordan

Abstract

Purpose –This paper aims to indicate that the foreign investment system in Jordan includesmany

provisions that create an appropriate environmentfor encouraging foreign investments and grant a

distinctive treatment for the foreign investor that allows them the status equal to the national

investor.

Design/methodology/approach –This study deals with the protection provided by the Jordan

Government for foreign investments to attract foreign investment by studying the guarantees given by

Jordan including many legal principles that encourage investment. The legal guarantees for the foreign

investorenhance the confidence of the foreign investor in the host country.

Findings –The system provides a lot of guarantees with respect to non-commercial risks to which the

foreigninvestor may be exposed.

Originality/value –The paper also clarifies that the role played by bilateral agreements in the field of

investments, as these agreements give foreigninvestments a measure of protection through the guarantees

and they areconsidered as incentives for the investor.

Keywords Jordanian law, Foreign investments, Bilateral investment agreements, Legal guarantees,

Foreign investor,Bilateral agreements,Legal system, Nationalinvestor, Legal status, Legalprinciples,

JordanianGovernment, Arab countries

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Jordan is one of the Arab countries most affected by the financial crises. This type of

challenge leads to an attempt to pursuean economic policy based on foreign investments to

confront the problems faced by the nationaleconomy. Consequently, Jordan has put in place

many laws related to foreign investment, to provide maximum protection and assurance to

foreign investors, as well as to provide exemptions and large-scale benefits (Abu, 2016). In

addition to the international laws, Jordan has signed several bilateral agreements aimed at

protecting and encouraging investment, to gain the confidence of the foreign investor

(Al-Samarrai, 2006). Alomran(2019) investigated elements that were not part of commercial

transactions and investors’expectations that impacted their investment in the host country

such as nationalization, seizure and expropriation. Their research looked at the

constitutional and legislative provisions as one of the main causes for foreign investment

protection in Jordan’sHashemite Kingdom.

The author is very thankful to all the associated personnel in any reference that contributed to/for the

purpose of this research.

Funding: This research is not funded by any resource.

Research funding: This research did not receive fundings from any source.

Availability of data and materials: The data sets used and analyzed during the current study are

available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Competing interest: The author declares no competing interest.

Protect foreign

investment

1

Received23 January 2021

Revised20 February 2021

17May 2021

Accepted17 June 2021

Journalof International Trade

Lawand Policy

Vol.21 No. 1, 2022

pp. 1-15

© Emerald Publishing Limited

1477-0024

DOI 10.1108/JITLP-01-2021-0003

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/1477-0024.htm