Research On Fair And Just Treatment Clauses In International Investment Treaties

The fair and equitable treatment became an absolute standard of treatment in international investment treaties in the 1940 s.With the development of international investment,more and more bilateral investment treaties have been concluded between countries.In order to improve the standards of investment protection,the fair and equitable treatment have been incorporated into investment treaties.The arbitration tribunal has further expanded the connotation of relevant applicable standards,making the application of this clause more operable.The text of the investment treaties links the fair and equitable treatment with the minimum standard of customary international law to limit the content of the fair and equitable treatment.However,in practice,the tribunal has different views on the relationship between the two,which has not achieved the desired effect of limiting the content.Due to the expanded interpretation of the fair and equitable treatment,foreign sovereignty of the host country is eroded.Many scholars begin to study the reasons for the phenomenon of expanded interpretation,reflect on the value of this provision and try to reform the provision of the fair and equitable treatment.Now,the list approach has become the mainstream view of reform.Most of the bilateral investment treaties concluded by China and other countries already contains the fair and equitable treatment,which should be also pointed that also have different disadvantages.Besides,relations with other customary international law treatment standards and still need to be further clarified.Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China enacted on March 15,2019,can also be regarded as the reflection of the fair and equitable treatment in domestic law.In combination with Chinese current situation,this paper puts forward reasonable suggestions to reform the content of the fair and equitable treatment,so as to better adapt to the development of international investment agreement,safeguard Chinese economic sovereignty and further enhance Chinese voice in international law.