Investment guarantees, treaties and reporting: the Investment Code's guarantees on equal treatment, property, expropriation, repatriation and disputes, Rwanda's bilateral investment treaties in force, ICSID, MIGA, the New York Convention and the EAC Common Market Protocol, investor-State cases, and a registered investor's reporting and notification duties to RDB

The guarantees in the Investment Code

Chapter II of Law N° 006/2021 of 05/02/2021 on Investment Promotion and Facilitation (the Investment Code) contains six guarantees. Under Article 9, a foreign investor may invest and buy shares in an investment entity in Rwanda and receives equal treatment with Rwandan investors 'with regard to investment incentives and investment facilitation'. Under Article 10, private property, owned individually or collectively, is inviolable; an investment, or an interest or right in property forming part of it, cannot be seized or confiscated except where the law provides; and expropriation in the public interest takes place 'after the investor is given fair compensation in accordance with relevant laws'. Article 11 protects the investor's intellectual property rights and the legitimate rights related to technology transfer. Article 12 allows an investor, upon fulfilling its tax obligations in Rwanda, to repatriate its capital, profits from business activities, debt and interest on foreign loans, proceeds of liquidation and other assets. Article 13 sets the route for disputes with the State, and Article 14 commits RDB to day-to-day facilitation with visas and work permits, water and electricity connections, sector licences and environmental impact assessment certificates.

Two points of scope matter. Articles 10 to 12 speak of 'an investor', not only a registered investor, so the property and repatriation guarantees protect every investor; the dispute route in Article 13 applies to a dispute 'in connection with a registered investment'. And Article 9's equal treatment is limited to incentives and facilitation; it does not override sector-specific rules, the Land Law's restrictions on freehold for foreigners or the licensing conditions of regulated sectors (FAQ 4; Sectors open to foreign investors and licensing).

Expropriation and compensation in practice

The Code refers expropriation to the general law: Law N° 32/2015 of 11/06/2015 relating to expropriation in the public interest. Only the Government may order expropriation, only in the public interest and only after fair compensation (Article 3). The owner may apply to the next higher authority for review of the expropriation decision within 30 days of its publication (Article 18); compensation is valued by certified valuers at market rates with an addition of 5% for disturbance (Article 28); the owner may object to the valuation in writing within 7 days and commission a counter-valuation at its own cost (Article 33), and may go to court within 15 days of signing the minutes recording the disagreement, while the expropriator's figure is paid meanwhile (Article 34). Compensation must be paid within 120 days, failing which the expropriation is void unless otherwise agreed (Article 36), and a further 5% is due for late payment or withdrawal (Article 37) (FAQ 50).

The 2026 United States Investment Climate Statement, citing a 2024 Transparency International study, reports expropriations carried out on short notice and compensation that often did not reflect market rates, and notes that the owner bears the cost of a counter-valuation. A foreign investor that also holds treaty protection has a second layer: the bilateral investment treaties described below set their own standards of compensation and give access to international arbitration. Land-specific procedure, including requisition of unused land and termination of land contracts, is covered in Expropriation and compensation.

Repatriation: the guarantee and the paper trail

Article 12 is backed by a liberal foreign exchange regime. Regulation N° 42/2022 of 13/04/2022 governing foreign exchange operations treats direct investment as 'fully liberalized' (Article 25), and dividends, fees, royalties and interest are transferred through authorised banks against 'relevant supporting documents indicating the source of funds' (Article 24). The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) may block transfers to meet Rwanda's international obligations, such as sanctions (Article 33). The condition in Article 12 of the Code, 'upon fulfilling tax obligations', is applied in practice by banks asking for evidence that withholding tax has been paid (FAQ 61).

Withholding tax on dividends and interest paid abroad is 15% under Article 60 of Law N° 027/2022 of 20/10/2022 establishing taxes on income, reduced to 0% for investors on the 3% regimes and the 15% financial-services regime, 5% for dividends and interest from companies listed on the Rwanda Stock Exchange, 10% for park developers, or a lower treaty rate where a double taxation agreement applies; a branch pays 15% on profits repatriated. The investor's file should trace the original capital inflow, the share issue or loan documents, the audited accounts, the board resolution declaring the dividend and the withholding tax receipt. The mechanics are in Repatriating profits and capital and the treaty rates in Withholding taxes and tax treaties.

Disputes with the State under the Code

Article 13 of the Code provides a three-stage route for a dispute between an investor and a State organ in connection with a registered investment: amicable settlement first; failing that, the arbitration institution or other dispute settlement procedure agreed between the parties; and, where no procedure is provided in a written agreement, the competent court. RDB's role is to 'facilitate amicable settlement of disputes that may arise between an investor and a State organ' (Article 16(4)), and in practice its investor aftercare officers are the first port of call for problems with land, utilities and other agencies. Article 13 is not itself a consent to international arbitration: an investor without an arbitration agreement with the State organ, and without a treaty, will end in the Rwandan courts.

Contracts with the Government are shaped by Ministerial Instructions No 612/08.11 of 16/04/2014 on drafting, negotiating and managing contracts. Article 14 provides that 'ad-hoc' arbitration is not allowed and that a Government official may not agree to any international arbitration clause other than one referring to the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC); where the counterparty disagrees, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General decides or negotiates. Investors in public-private partnerships, concessions and supply contracts should therefore expect a KIAC clause, with the number of arbitrators, seat and language to be agreed, and should negotiate a neutral seat and language where they can (Arbitration law and KIAC).

Treaty protection and how to structure for it

A bilateral investment treaty (BIT) protects investors of the other state, typically against expropriation without compensation, unfair and inequitable treatment, discrimination and restrictions on transfers, and gives them the right to bring the State to international arbitration. The six BITs in force cover investors from Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, the United States, Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. The Korea-Rwanda treaty is a representative modern text: a six-month consultation period, a choice of ICSID, the ICSID Additional Facility or UNCITRAL arbitration, a 90-day notice of intent, a three-year limitation period and a waiver of other proceedings.

Treaty protection depends on nationality and structure at the time the dispute arises, and tribunals look at whether the investor has real substance in its home state and whether restructuring took place when a dispute was foreseeable. A group from a state without a BIT in force, such as the United Kingdom, France, China or India, may consider holding its Rwandan investment through a company in a treaty state with real activity, decided early and documented for commercial reasons. Rwanda's double taxation agreements are a separate network and do not give investment protection (Withholding taxes and tax treaties).

Multilateral instruments. Rwanda signed the ICSID Convention on 21 April 1978, ratified it on 15 October 1979, and has been bound since 14 November 1979. It is a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which offers political risk insurance, and acceded to the New York Convention on 31 October 2008, in force from 29 January 2009, so foreign awards are enforceable in Rwanda (Foreign arbitration and enforcing awards). The EAC Common Market Protocol, signed at Arusha on 20 November 2009, gives EAC investors a right of establishment (Article 13), free movement of capital (Articles 24 and 25) and protection of cross-border investments, permitting expropriation only for a public purpose, without discrimination, by due process and against 'prompt, reasonable and effective compensation' (Article 29). Residents may challenge a Partner State's acts before the East African Court of Justice within two months (Article 30 of the EAC Treaty). The AfCFTA Agreement has been in force since 30 May 2019, but its Investment Protocol is not yet in force.

Rwanda's record before ICSID

Three ICSID cases against Rwanda are on record. Olyana Holdings v Rwanda (ARB/10/10), a contract-based claim, was discontinued on 7 January 2011. In Bay View Group and Spalena v Rwanda (ARB/18/21), brought under the United States BIT, the tribunal's award of 30 March 2022 dismissed Bay View's claim for lack of a material investment and Spalena's on the merits, and ordered the claimants to pay Rwanda's costs of GBP 1,312,233.10 and USD 361,783.72 plus interest. Alain Francois V. Goetz and Aldabra Ltd v Rwanda (ARB/24/48), brought under the 1983 BLEU and 2017 UAE treaties over a gold refinery, was registered on 1 November 2024; the tribunal was reconstituted on 6 January 2026 and the proceedings were suspended at Rwanda's request until 26 May 2026, and their status after that date has not been confirmed. The record shows that Rwanda defends treaty claims and that tribunals examine closely whether the claimant made a real investment (Investor-State disputes and treaty protection).

Reporting and notification duties of a registered investor

The quid pro quo for incentives is reporting. Article 26 of the Code obliges a registered investor to implement its proposal in accordance with the business plan in its application; to keep financial and accounting records and submit a copy of its financial report to RDB within three months following the preceding financial year; to keep data on the investment entity's operations for five years; to facilitate RDB staff in monitoring; to respond within the time set by written notice to RDB queries; and to register with the tax administration and file tax returns even where it is entitled to tax exemptions (FAQ 8).

Article 27 requires a registered investor to inform RDB in writing within 30 days before it changes the nature of its investment operations, suspends them (stating the duration) or terminates them; a person affected by a suspension or termination may also notify RDB. Under Article 28, if the changes materially alter the investment without harming it or its eligibility for incentives, RDB amends the certificate; if they do not materially alter the investor's commitments, RDB records them on file. Failure to perform these obligations is a ground for cancelling the certificate (Article 22), after written notice and ten working days to explain (Article 23), with an appeal to the Head of RDB within ten working days, decided within ten working days (Article 24); cancellation for false or fraudulent declarations obliges the investor to refund the incentives received (Article 25). The certificate lasts five years and is renewed on an application that includes an implementation report and notarised financial statements (Articles 19 to 21; RDB registration and the investment certificate). Article 16(6) requires RDB not to disclose confidential information provided by an investor.