Study On The UNCITRAL Rules On Transparency In Treaty-based Investor-state Arbitration

With the increase of international investment since 1980 s, the number of disputes due to the international investment is also increasing gradually. As one of the important methods for the settlement of investment disputes, international investment arbitration is attracting more and more international attention. The reform of international investment arbitration is continued to adapt to the rapidly developing international investment. And international investment arbitration transparency has become the critical part to achieve the normalization of the law of investment arbitration procedures and balance the interest between the investors and countries. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law passed the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration(hereinafter referred to as the Rules on Transparency) on July 11, 2013. The Rules on Transparency came into force on April 1, 2014, which is the new achievement of the reform of international investment arbitration transparency.The thesis starts from the background in which the Rules on Transparency come out and briefly shows that the Rules on Transparency come out on the basis of the latest legislation of international arbitration transparency and the practice of each government. The procedural legitimacy crisis faced by the international investment arbitration and the huge differences between international investment arbitration and international business arbitration are essential factors for the Rules on Transparency to come out. There are different definitions of the Rules on Transparency. The definition made by the UNCITRAL is authoritative and flexible. Their final goal is to develop it into a convention. The innovations of the thesis lie in the comparative analysis of the involved principles and the system, pointing out the deficiency and proposing the attitude towards the Rules and path choice of China.The Rules on Transparency can improve the transparency of international investment arbitration procedures, strengthen the supervision on arbitration procedures and judgment by international society and balance the interests of the host governments and investors. The current action of China government not to participate in the Rules on Transparency does not represent the future decision. As a large importer and exporter of international investment, China should never stop concerning about the opportunities and challenges brought by the new legislation of international investment and take active actions to deal with the problems related to the transparency of investment arbitration.