The Unknown Innovator: Switzerland and the Beginning
of the Investment Treaty Regime

Filip Batselé

Switzerland is the second country that started negotiating bilateral investment treaties (BITs), only being
preceded by (West) Germany. This article analyses Switzerland’s unknown role in influencing the content of
early international investment law. It uses records from Swiss public and private archives, amongst others, to elucidate the process of Swiss investment law policy during the end of the 1950s and the early 1960s. The article illustrates how early Swiss BIT policy was shaped by the symbiotic relationship between the government (the Handelsabteilung and Eidgenössisches Politisches Departement) and business interest associations (Vorort and the Vereinigung schweizerischer Industrie-Holdinggesellschaften, amongst others). It demonstrates Switzerland’s early influence on international investment law by tracing how Swiss policymakers spearheaded the use of the transfer, national treatment and most favoured nation clause in early investment treaties, and influenced the "European approach" of short investment agreements focused solely on investment protection.