A Study On Treaty Shopping Issues In International Investment Arbitrations

In recent international investment arbitrations, more and more investors try to maximize their interests through treaty shopping. With international investment arbitration as the background, this article considers and discusses the issue of treaty shopping. In short, treaty shopping is to choose the most favorable treaty for the investor among certain bilateral investment treaties. However, the resulting awards are controversial, as there is not yet a unified arbitration basis. In arbitration practices, some awards fully confirmed the effect of treaty shopping, while others strongly denied it. As regards to China, a case is currently under international investment arbitration, and the study of this issue has practical significance for China. This article focuses on the concept and generation background of treaty shopping in international investment arbitration, conducts a detailed analysis of the behavioral nature of treaty shopping based on the most favored nation clause or nationality planning, and constructively makes proposal regarding the response strategies of China:to impose specific restrictions on the most favored nation clause, and to apply the denial of benefits clause in solving the problem of nationality planning and offer some references for the bilateral investment negotiations and international investment arbitration of China.This article is comprised of three primary sections:preface, main text and conclusion, with the main text consisting of a total of four chapters.The first chapter provides an overview of treaty shopping, which includes two sections:the first section discusses the concept and generation of treaty shopping, which introduces the the concept of treaty shopping and then the generation thereof; the second section discusses the common means of treaty shopping, which principally discusses the two means of the most favored nation clause and nationality planning.The second chapter discusses treaty shopping by means of the most favored nation clause. This chapter is divided into four sections:the first section is an overview of the meaning of the most favored nation clause; the second section is a theoretical analysis of Treaty shopping by means of the most favored nation clause; the third section is an analysis of the cases involving treaty shopping by means of the most favored nation clause; the fourth section is a summary.The third chapter discusses treaty shopping by means of nationality planning. This chapter includes four sections:the first section is an overview of the nationality planning; the second section is is an analysis of nationality planning prior to the rise of a dispute; the third section is an analysis of nationality planning after the rising of a dispute; the fourth section is a summary.The fourth chapter discusses China’s strategies for responding to treaty shopping. This chapter includes three sections:the first section discusses specific restrictions on most favored nation clause; the second section discusses the application of the denial of benefits clause in solving the problem of nationality planning; the third section is a summary.