《中欧全面投资协定》投资者-东道国争端解决机制构想——以ISDS改革为视角

《中欧全面投资协定》投资者-东道国争端解决机制构想——以ISDS改革为视角

An Outlook for the Possible ISDS Mechanism of China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment — from the Perspective of ISDS Reform

In 2014, China and the European Union (“EU”) initiated their first round of negotiations on the investment agreement. After 35 rounds of “tug-of-war”, on 30th December 2020, China and the EU have finally concluded in principle the negotiations for the Comprehensive Agreement

on Investment(“CAI”). The text of the CAI is partially released on 22nd January 2021.

2014年，中国和欧盟启动了第一轮的投资协定谈判。历经35轮拉锯，双方最终于2020年12月30日完成了《中欧全面投资协定》（EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment，“CAI”）的谈判，并于2021年1月22日公布了CAI 部分文本。[1]

The CAI aims to replace and unify the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) entered by China and 26 out of the 27 member countries of the EU respectively so as to establish a unified multilateral institutional framework, which covers, inter alia, the market access commitments, information transparency, fair trading and competition, fair labor treatment, sustainable

development and etc. It is worth noting that, in regard to the dispute resolution mechanism, the CAI has not directly set out a set of rules for the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”), but adopted the similar route as is in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which was signed by and among China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on 15th November 2020. That is, the signatory parties vowed to conclude the negotiations on ISDS mechanism within 2 years after the signing of the CAI. China and the EU had also specifically agreed that such ISDS mechanism would take into account of the ISDS reform currently carried out by the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”). In this regard, what kind of ISDS mechanism that will be finally adopted in the CAI is particularly worth the attention.

《中欧全面投资协定》旨在取代中国和欧盟其中26个成员国之间现有的双边投资条约，建立一个统一的制度性框架，其中涉及市场准入、透明度、公平竞争、劳工待遇、可持续发展等等方面。然而，值得注意的是，《中欧全面投资协定》中关于投资者-东道国争端解决（Investor-State Dispute Settlement，“ISDS”）机制方面没有具体规定，而是采取类似于中国与日本、韩国、澳大利亚、新西兰及东南亚国家联盟十国共十五方于2020年11月15日正式签署的《区域全面经济伙伴关系协定》（Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership，“RCEP”）中的约定，即缔约方承诺在该协议签署后的2年内完成ISDS机制的谈判。中欧双方在CAI中还特别承诺，该ISDS机制的设立将会考虑联合国国际贸易法委员会（UNCITRAL）组织下的ISDS改革（“ISDS改革”）方面获得的相关工作成果。[2]如此一来，《中欧全面投资协定》最终将采取何种ISDS机制，就尤为值得关注与期待。

In light of the above, this article will first introduce the ISDS reform led by the UNCITRAL with particular attention paid on the reform submissions by China and the EU, which may shed a light on the possible positions to be adopted by China and the EU in the CAI with respect to ISDS mechanism. Based on the above analysis together with the consensus and progress achieved so far in the ISDS reform, this article will then look forward to the ISDS mechanism that may be eventually adopted in the CAI.

有鉴于此，本文将首先梳理UNCITRAL组织下的ISDS改革，并就其中欧盟与中国关于部分关键问题的立场进行简要分析，以期窥见双方在《中欧全面投资协定》项下ISDS条款的商定中可能倾向采取的立场。最后，基于上述分析以及ISDS改革目前已取得的共识与阶段性进展，本文将对《中欧全面投资协定》可能最终呈现的ISDS机制进行展望。