Research On The Transparency Of Investor-state Arbitration

In the legal perspective, transparency usually refers to the publicity and democracy of dispute settlement system and the operation should be under public supervision. According to the definition and practice among international and domestic trends, the transparency of Investor-state arbitration should consist of two layers: first is the publicity of process and availability of awards; second is the effective participation of non-disputed party, which mainly refers to statement of amicus curiae. Given to the most severely legal crisis that Investor-state arbitration confronted to is the secrecy of arbitration process and exclusion to the participation of interest related parties, the attempt of strengthen transparency of Investor-state arbitration is deemed as a crucial issue that determines the fate of Investor-state arbitration.In response to the criticism of lack of transparency, the international Investor-state arbitration mechanism adopts some measures. ICSID and NAFTA have been regarded as the most representative in international Investor-state arbitration mechanism, so their reform towards to further transparency may reflect the probable trend of global Investor-state arbitration. The thesis studies the latest development on transparency of ICSID and NAFTA, and presented a personal opinion on the relationship between transparency and the secrecy of international investment dispute settlement mechanism.This thesis consists of four chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion.Chapter One mainly explains the background of international Investor-state arbitration's reform, namely legal crisis of international arbitration and puts forward that increasing transparency is an important solution to cope with legal crisis. This chapter also makes a brief introduction to the attempts on transparency of NAFTA and ICSID.Chapter Two and Three respectively expounds the two layers of transparency , namely the publicity of process and amicus curiae' s participation. According to case analysis of NAFTA and ICSID, the two chapters reflect the rules and practice under the two dispute settlement mechanism and present the specific standard that need to establish in practice.Chapter Four introduces the different attitudes between developing countries and developed countries. The second section of this chapter illustrates the significance of increasing transparency of international Investor-state arbitration. In the end, the thesis points out that transparency is not a principle of Investor-state arbitration but rather an rational exception based on secrecy of arbitration. Therefore the reform of Investor-state arbitration should seek balance between secrecy and transparency under the conflicts of multiple interests.