Research On The Methods Of Interpretation Of Umbrella Clause In Bilateral Investment Treaties

Law of international investment is more and more important since international investment booms. Because the development of multilateral law of international investment is stagnant for a long time, Bilateral Investment Treaties (hereinafter BITs for short) is the main form of rules on international investment. According to the report of UNCTAD, the total number of BITs rose to 2750 at the end of 2009. However, while BITs used by most of countries of the world, there are much more disputes of international investment about BITs. In this process a large number of disputes happened, and one of them is the interpretation of the umbrella clause.Since first appeared in 1959, umbrella clause has become a regular feature of international investment agreement. In recent years, the dispute about the interpretation of the umbrella clause has been involved in many cases of International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (hereinafter ICSID for short). But different means of interpretation of the umbrella clause made by the Tribunals led to different decisions of cases. The interpretation of the Umbrella Clause has been one of issues focused during settlement of disputes of international investment and law of international investment. Since China reformed and opened up, many BITs have been entered into between China and other countries to promote external trade efficiency, and most of them include the umbrella clause. It's very important to China that making a proper interpretation of the umbrella clause to balance between foreign investors and the host states. By analyzing and comparing umbrella clauses in different states'BITs, the cases of ICSID about it, and standpoints of ICSID on means of interpretation of umbrella clause, a proper interpretation can be found. And some suggestions on the interpretative dispute of umbrella clause in practice of China's BIT is given.This paper is divided into three chapters, including:Chapter 1 is overview of umbrella clause. It's an overview of origin, definition, features and language of umbrella clause.Chapter 2 is the reasons of disputes of methods of interpretations of umbrella clause, which is analyzed in two parts:the core and essence of disputes of methods of interpretation.Chapter 3 is the standpoints and practice of arbitration about three interpretations of umbrella clause. Three main standpoints of interpretation of umbrella clause are given, including the narrow interpretation, the wide interpretation and comparatively narrow interpretation. And there is a particular introduction of three arbitrations, including the cases, decisions, and reasons of Tribunal. These decisions are compared and analyzed three interpretations in conjunction with decisions, and the proper interpretation is found.Chapter 4 is research into some countermeasures for dispute of interpretation of umbrella clause for China. According to the umbrella clause in China's BIT, some suggestions on solving disputes of interpretation of umbrella clause are given.