A Study On The Rules Of Investor-host Country Dispute Settlement Under The USMCA

This thesis discusses the rules of Investor-State Dispute Settlement in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement（USMCA）.The United States,Canada and Mexico formally signed USMCA on November 30^th,2018 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement（NAFTA）,which they signed in 1994.As far as Investor-State Dispute Settlement rules are concerned,USMCA has made significant adjustments to NAFTA.At present,the debate in the international community on how to reform the investment dispute settlement mechanism is in full swing.The innovation of USMCA on Investor-State Dispute Settlement rules has aroused widespread concern in the international community.The relevant rules of USMCA may provide useful reference for many countries,including China,to participate in this debate and contract in the future.The thesis is divided into four parts.The first part briefly introduces the background,institute process and applicable scope of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement under USMCA.The second part divides the entity rules of Investor-State Dispute Settlement into two parts:“General entity rules”and“newly developed entity rules”.Focusing on the definition of“investor”and“Investment”,this chapter discusses the entity rules of Investor-State Dispute Settlement.The third part divides the procedural rules of Investor-State Dispute Settlement into two parts:“General procedural rules”and“newly developed procedural rules”.For the general procedural rules,this chapter discusses the jurisdiction,the choice of arbitration rules,the selection of arbitrators,the efficiency of arbitration and consolidation.Besides,based on analyzing China Ping v.Kingdom of Belgium investment arbitration case,this chapter discusses the newly developed procedural rules of Investor-State Dispute Settlement.The fourth part focuses on the influence and significance of Investor-State Dispute Settlement rules in USMCA.This thesis expounds and discusses the influence on the reform of the international investment dispute settlement mechanism and its practical significance to China.The thesis holds that the reform of the ISDS of USMCA reflects proper concern for the sovereign rights and interests of the host country in the requirements of starting arbitration procedures,restrictions on the scope of qualified investment disputes,qualifications of arbitrators,transparency and other relevant provisions.The reform concept and system design contained in the agreement have a lot to learn,but at the same time,there are also many imperfections,especially the discriminatory provisions against non-market economy countries,which obviously violate the rules of international law and make the agreement exclusive as a whole.