Bot Concession Agreement Legal Issues

BOT is a new form of international investment and financing which has been adopted by many states in the world since the recent years. We can define BOT in such a way: a host nation conclude and sign an agreement of concession in which the state confer the concession of investing, financing, operating and maintaining of a large infrastructure to investors. Investors pay back the debt of the project and recover the investment by their income from operating. When the concession agreement terminates, the investors must transfer the infrastructure building by BOT. BOT has important value for developing countries including China.Since middle period of the eighties of the 20th century, our country has begun to probe to adopt BOT investment ways to build infrastructures. Utilizing BOT investment way, a lot of projects have been the experimental units in China successively, and have obtained relatively great success. BOT investment way is becoming a kind of new important way to attract foreign capital to build infrastructure in our country. However, through the experiments of a lot of BOT projects, our country has accumulated certain experience, and issued some management rules about BOT, our country is still in extremely superficial degree to the understanding of BOT investment way at present. Meanwhile, the soft environment respects, especially the legal environment in the demanding of BOT investment way still exist insufficient. And there is not one special set legal quality file to adjust BOT investment way at present in our country. The relevant regulation in various kinds of legal files is not only imperfect, but also conflict each other. This has brought great difficulty to legal practice of our country. So we must perfect the soft environment which is favorable to BOT operation of investment way and create condition as soon as possible, and attract foreign capital to invest infrastructure construction by way of BOT.This paper analyze the BOT concession agreement in law field .Specially, put BOT concession agreement in law system, use some ideals of international investment law, and analyze the legal nature, character and content of BOT concession agreement. Besides, considering the legal requisites of BOT concession agreement as well as thepractice and theory in China and abroad, this paper gives some suggestions on BOT concession agreement. There are five chapters:Chapter 1, summary of BOT concession agreement, including the investment mode and some basic aspects of BOT. After analyzing the concept and legal nature of BOT investment mode, it mainly explained the legal nature and character of BOT concession agreement.Chapter 2,legal nature of BOT concession agreement. There has been much dispute over the legal nature of BOT concession agreement. This chapter analyzes the legal nature of BOT agreement in toe ways, which sets up the base for the following analyses.Chapter 3, the contents of BOT concession agreement. This chapter uses the law to fully analyze the contents of BOT concession agreement. After comparing the domestic and international understanding on the contents of BOT concession agreement, the subject parties of BOT concession agreement are defined as well as their rights and duties, so that the legal relationship of subject parties is demonstrated.Chapter 4, analyze on main legal issues of BOT concession agreement. This chapter focuses on such important legal issues as government guarantee, application of law, nature of project property right as well as the ownership of project property.Chapter 5, suggestions on legislation of BOT concession agreement. Improving legal environment and legal system are useful ways to attract the BOT investment. Based on the subject contract of BOT investment—legal status of concession agreement, this chapter illustrates the necessity and possibility of specific legislation of BOT concession agreement.