Research On Environmental Exception Clauses In International Investment Agreements

International investment agreements have the property of protecting investment and investors 'interests.With the rapid development of the world economy,international investment agreements under the background of investment liberalization have begun to show their drawbacks.On the one hand,international investment agreements overemphasize the protection of investment and investors,while ignoring the regulatory powers of the host country in its field,triggering frequent disputes between the host country and investors;on the other hand,transcending geographical boundaries Environmental problems followed one after another,damaging the sound development of the international investment economy.At present,the international investment agreement is in a stage of change.Sustainable development and green investment are the key changes in the current international investment reform.Special environmental exception clauses have been set in the international investment agreement.The environmental exception clause serves as a defense basis for the host country to adopt environmental control measures,and its role is to reserve space for the host country to use the control power to protect the domestic environmental interests when a specific situation is met.However,the development of environmental exception clauses in international investment agreements is not yet perfect.There are a small number and ambiguous terms.Theeffectiveness is lacking,which exposes the host country to greater regulatory risks.This risk is specifically manifested in the conflict between the application of environmental exception clauses and indirect expropriation clauses and fair and equitable clauses,which in turn leads the host country to face the threat of huge compensation.This article attempts to start research from the environmental exception clauses in the international investment agreement,and combines the practice of conflicts between environmental exception clauses and indirect expropriation and fair and equitable treatment in international investment arbitration practice,with a view to finding a solution to the conflict between environmental protection and foreign investment protection.The experience provided by foreign treaty practice and arbitration practice will eventually provide suggestions for China to improve the environmental exception clauses in international investment agreements.This article is divided into four chapters.The first chapter is the connotation and status analysis of environmental exception clauses in international investment agreements.This part briefly introduces the connotation of the environment and environmental exception clauses in the international investment agreement,summarizes the current status of the environmental exception clauses in the international investment agreement,and points out its shortcomings,including the lack of the number and effectiveness of the clause itself and Protection clauses are prone to conflict.The second chapter specifically analyzes the conflict between environmental exception clauses and indirect expropriation,which is mainly reflected in the different impacts on the effectiveness of environmental exception clauses caused by different indirect expropriation standards and the results of different awards caused by the inconsistent interpretation of the terms by the arbitral tribunal And through research on the practice of arbitration,it is concluded that the solution to the coordination between the two is to clarify the criteria for the determination of indirect expropriation and to correctly apply the principle of proportionality.The third chapter is about the conflict between environmental exception clauses and fair and equitable treatment,including the unclear analysis of the connotation of fair and equitable treatment,the expanded interpretation of the standard of treatment by the arbitral tribunal,which limits the effectiveness of environmental exception clauses.The analysis of the two solutions of the representatives provides a reference for the following research.The fourth chapter analyzes the current status of environmental exception clauses in the international investment agreements concluded by China.Combining the argument of the previous three chapters,it makes suggestions on the design of environmental exception clauses in China's international investment agreements.Finally,in the concluding part,the whole research process and main research conclusions of this article are summarized.