Research On The Protection Of The Host Country's Public Health From The Perspective Of Investment Agreements

With the continuous development of economic globalization,international investment is also gradually deepening.Many countries have made great progress in their domestic economies in the wave of investment development.At the same time,international investment disputes have continued to grow.The cases of Philip Morris v.Uruguay and Philip Morris v.Australia have led countries around the world to consider the balance between investment interests and public health interests.The previous investment agreements clearly have a tendency to favor investment interests and neglect public health interests,resulting in failure to provide the host country with adequate public health regulatory power.In addition,due to the ambiguity of the terms of the investment agreement,the arbitral tribunal has too much discretion,and the commercial nature of the arbitration more inclined to investors.Obviously such an investment agreements cannot Meet the needs of host country public health protection.At present,some investment agreements have begun to consciously incorporate public health regulations.For example,in 2004,Canada's BIT model already had special public health regulations,but such regulations are still in a “soft law”.It is necessary to strengthen the protection of public health in investment agreements so that the host country can better exercise its public health regulatory power.The article first based on the analysis of the origin,background,and causes of public health issues in the host country of international investment,and puts forward the plight of the lack for the public health regulatory authority in the host country due to the weak public health protection system in international investment agreements in this context,it is necessary to protect the host country's public health interests through the improvement of international investment agreements.Secondly,it focuses in the text analysis of investment agreements,and concludes that there is current imbalance between investment protection clauses and public health protection regulations.Then,empirical analysis is started from the practice of arbitration,in which the ambiguity of the fair and equitable treatment clause and the expropriation clause has hinderer public health protection.Later,the measures adopted by the recent investment agreement to address the above issues: clarifying the public health purpose in the preamble,including special clauses on public health protection,reforming the provisions of public health protection procedures,and clarifying the applicable cluases to public health protection.Finally,to analyze the current state of public health protection of Sino-foreign investment agreements.Although China has become the second largest importer of capital,there are still many deficiencies in investment agreements.Therefore,it is necessary to include relevant provisions in futire Sino-foreign investment agreements.Drafting a BIT model from the standpoint of protecting public health,can better deal with the conflict between investment intrests and public health interests,and achieve sustainable development in the field of international investment.