Study On The Consistency Of Treaty Interpretation In International Investment Arbitration

The inconsistency of treaty interpretations in international investment arbitration has triggered a crisis of confidence in the ISDS mechanism in the international community,seriously undermining the "legitimacy" of international investment rules.The reason is closely related to various issues at the level of interpretation subject,interpretation object,and arbitration mechanism.These issues are criss-crossed and interacted together,which has comprehensively contributed to the lack of consistency in treaty interpretation in practice.Although the international community has reached a consensus on the overall goal of reforming the ISDS mechanism to repair the systemic problems in it,different countries have different attitudes towards the reform direction of specific issues such as the consistency of treaty interpretation.The value contained in the consistent interpretation of the treaty collides with the value contained in the inconsistent interpretation of the treaty,and each has its own merits.In this context,the pursuit of absolute consistency in treaty interpretation has no realistic significance and era value.The degree of consistency pursued by treaty interpretation should be distinguished according to the different conditions of the treaty provisions involved in the case,to ensure the consistency of interpretation of the same provisions of the same treaty,and to preserve the reasonable differences in the interpretation of similar provisions of different treaties.To achieve this goal,structural measures can be taken to address the issue of consistency in treaty interpretation.