Independence Of Arbitrators In International Investment Arbitration

With the steady development of the "the belt and road initiative" initiative,China,as the largest developing country in the world,on the one hand continuously invests in countries along the "the belt and road initiative" route and other overseas countries and regions,and on the other hand continuously attracts overseas investments.Although the global economy continues to grow,the disputes in the field of international investment are becoming more and more complicated.China is obviously in a weak position in the dispute settlement mechanism in the field of investment.At the same time,the relevant regulations in the field of international investment have been unable to fully cover all the problems in practice.In order to resolve various disputes arising from international investment in a peaceful way and maintain the normal operation of international investment activities,the international community has been exploring the establishment of a reasonable and effective international investment order.Therefore,it is particularly important to establish a relatively well-established international investment dispute settlement mechanism,of which international investment arbitration is the most frequently applied dispute settlement mechanism.As an important participant in the arbitration activities,the independence of the arbitrator will directly affect the process of the arbitration procedure and ultimately affect the fairness and credibility of the arbitration results.In the existing international investment arbitration mechanism,the system for the independence of arbitrators includes the meaning of independence,the selection system of arbitrators and the safeguard measures for the independence of arbitrators.With the development of society,there are inevitably various factors that affect the impartiality and independence of the arbitrators.The lag of law leads to the system of arbitrators under the existing arbitration mechanism can no longer guarantee the impartiality of arbitration to a certain extent.Therefore,this article will combine theory with practice by analyzing the arbitration institution rules such as Washington Convention,UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and London International Arbitration Court Arbitration Rules,which are most widely used in the existing international investment arbitration mechanisms,and the International Bar Association’s Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration promulgated by the International Bar Association,and on this basis,combining practical cases.This paper analyzes the standards and existing problems concerning the independence of arbitrators in the international arbitration mechanism,tries to put forward corresponding improvement measures in view of the existing problems in the existing mechanism,and puts forward its own views and suggestions on the development of international investment arbitration and the improvement of the relevant provisions of domestic arbitration in combination with China’s national conditions.The first part lays the groundwork for the later analysis of the criteria for determining the independence of arbitrators.The author first summarizes the concept of independence of arbitrators in international investment arbitration,then analyzes the relationship between independence and impartiality in international investment arbitration,and finally expounds the characteristics of international investment arbitration,focusing on distinguishing the differences from international commercial arbitration,thus finding that the requirements for independence of international investment arbitrators should be different.The second part first states the existing major international investment arbitration rules and the relevant provisions on the independence of arbitrators in the conflict of interest guidelines issued by the International Bar Association.Then it analyzes the cases in which the independence of arbitrators is questioned in international investment arbitration to understand what identification criteria the arbitration tribunal uses to judge whether the arbitrators lack independence in practice,thus analyzing the problem of identifying the independence of arbitrators in the practice of international investment arbitration.The third part,aiming at the problems existing in the above rules and practices,puts forward suggestions on the safeguard measures for the independence of arbitrators in the existing international investment arbitration mechanism.The fourth part is the enlightenment of international investment arbitration mechanism to China’s development of international investment arbitration and the current situation of China’s development of international investment arbitration.