In February of 1984, the National Foreign Investment Commission of Mexico surprised the investment community by announcing that it would apply the Foreign Investment Law of 1973 (FIL) with flexibility and would consider permitting foreign capital investment of up to 100 percent in a significant number of activities. Actually, Mexico had been expected to increase its restriction of foreign investment in view of the Government’s efforts to decrease its economic dependence upon other countries.

The International Law Commission of the United Nations is currently studying a topic entitled “International Liability for Injurious Consequences Arising out of Acts Not Prohibited by International Law” (hereinafter “international liability” or “topic”). That topic has proven to be as serpentine as its title suggests and consequently is difficult to define. It is generally understood as encompassing, in particular, harmful transnational environmental effects of internationally lawful activities. This aspect alone has made the topic increasingly important, as demands on resources have intensified, technological advances have given rise to threats of widespread and even catastrophic transboundary harm, and the international community has grown more interdependent in other ways.

The material in this section is arranged according to the system employed in the annual Digest of United States Practice in International Law, published by the Department of State.

The Working Group on Indigenous Populations, an organ of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, ended its fourth annual session last August by distributing seven “draft principles” to governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for comment as the first step in preparing “a draft declaration on indigenous rights, which may be proclaimed by the General Assembly.” For the first time since indigenous organizations took their concerns to the international level in 1977, a formal commitment has been made to the development of new law, probably in time for the “cinquecentennial” in 1992 of the “discovery” of the Americas and a proposed international indigenous year.

In 1984, under the chairmanship of Professor Louis J. Emmery, a working group of the Netherlands National Advisory Council for Development Cooperation drafted a report on minimum international labor standards. The report was approved by the Council late that year and was subsequently presented to the Minister for Development Cooperation.