'Energy is the major event of a country and is closely related to people's livelihood and national development',as an indispensable part of globalization,energy has become a hot topic of all countries in the world.While safeguarding the transnational energy flow and investment are the top priorities in international energy investment.Energy Charter Treaty,in the contemporary international community,as an international treaty with a large number of member states,is the representative in respect of the protection of energy-related issues.In particular,Article 26 of the Treaty-Investment Arbitration Clauses-has a profound impact on nowadays energy investment practice.Since the Energy Charter Treaty came into force in 1998,a total of 113 arbitration cases were filed under the Energy Charter Treaty as of February 2018,reflecting its protection mechanisms are increasingly recognized by organizations or states around the world.This paper will select several key provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty,which related to the settlement of dispute,and focus on analyzing the scope of application of arbitration about disputes between investors and contracting parties,as well as the privilege that the Energy Charter Treaty grants to investors----they can submit disputes to the arbitration tribunal unconditionally,which distinguished from other international investment agreements.Finally,the author will elaborate Chinese current energy situation,combined with current legal situation concerning the jurisdiction of investment arbitration of China,compared with relevant stipulation of the Energy Charter Treaty,then give the suggestions.This paper consists of five parts:First part is the introduction,which mainly expounds the background and significance of this selected topic.According to the domestic and foreign materials I read,I will summarize the current academic achievements on the dispute resolution mechanism of the Energy Charter Treaty,as well as the impact and enlightenment of the Energy Charter Treaty to China.This chapter also lists the research methods,the innovations of this paper and the directions that still need to be worked out.Chapter I is an overview of the Energy Charter Treaty,mainly clarifying the development of the energy charter system and the relationship among the three key documents.This chapter also focuses on the uniqueness of the Energy Charter Treaty and compares it with the WTO,the most influential multiple trade agreement in the world.It highlights the irreplaceability of the Energy Charter Treaty.At the end of this chapter,? will briefly introduce two major categories of dispute settlement mechanisms in the Energy Charter Treaty.Chapter ? concentrates on Article 26 of the Energy Charter Treaty----the settlement of investment disputes between investors and contracting parties,especially on the applicable conditions of the dispute settlement.This chapter will discuss from three perspectives:the subject of the dispute,the object of the dispute,and the limitation rules,then choose classic cases under the Energy Charter Treaty and some other cases,which can be seen as 'soft precedents',to provide an in-depth analysis of the current problems in the practical application as well as the positive influence to the future investment disputes.Chapter ? deals with the issue of the 'unconditional' consent of the host country to submit the dispute to arbitration.This chapter begins with the definition and the exception of the'unconditional' consent in the Energy Charter Treaty.Then ? will expound the multiple proceedings arising from 'unconditional' consent through case studies,and illustrate the arbitral tribunal's current practice with respect to this issue.Finally,from the perspective of investors and the host country,? will summarize the impact and significance of 'unconditional'consent to arbitration.Chapter ? is the enlightenment of Chinese energy investment dispute settlement according to the analyze of Energy Charter Treaty above.This chapter is divided into three parts.The first part mainly illuminates the current status of China's international energy investment,including the FDI into China and OFDI from China.The second part is to clarify and evaluate the current jurisdictional provisions of China's dispute resolution mechanism concerning international investment,which is mainly from the articles of bilateral investment agreements,and free trade agreements signed by China.The third part is from the perspective of Energy Charter Treaty,?will propose the suggestions that China needs to be careful about in future related legal regulations and where it can be improved. |