Study On Third Party Participation Rule In International Investment Treaty Arbitration

"Third party participation" in international investment treaty arbitration,refers to that in the process of an arbitration,the non-disputing party which has a significant interest in the arbitration or has the ability to provide relevant facts or legal suggestions,participates into the ongoing arbitration by making written submissions or in other ways,based on a neutral position.The international investment treaty arbitration is derived from business arbitration.In practices of recent decades,many awards rendered by the arbitral tribunal have been making disregard of public interest and even eroded the state's sovereignty,which result in strong criticism to its legitimacy.Against this background,in order to safeguard the public interest,a number of non-governmental organizations(NGOs)petition for participating in the arbitration as a third party,which provides a good solution for the reform of the the international investment treaty arbitration.The third party participation rule in the international investment treaty arbitration has been developed with the increasing acceptance of the arbitration practice to the third party.However,the third party participation rules are not perfect yet,not unified yet.To make the participation of the third party really have a role in the arbitration,the rules need to be perfected.Apart from the introduction and conclusion,this dissertation is devided into six Chapters:Chapter I "A Summary of International Investment Treaty Arbitration and the Third Party Participation".This chapter starts by briefly introducing the emergence and definition of "International Investment Treaty Arbitration",pointing out that it has become the main way to settle the Investor-State Disputes.Then,it sets forth how "third party participation arises in the international investment treaty arbitration.Further,It gives the definition of "third party participation",and briefly discuss how to do the study on "third party participation rules" in this text.This chapter ends up with analysis on the positive influence on international investment treaty arbitration brought by third party participation.Chapter II "The Development of Third Party Participation Rule in International Investment Treaty Arbitration".This chapter starts by reviewing the "unwitten period" of third party participation,which means no written rules on third party participation but actual participation can be seen in practices.The second part is about the shaping period of third party participation rules,in which NAFTA,US BITs,Canada BITs,"ICSID Arbitration Rules","UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration" has introduced the "third party participation rules".Moreover,comparing with the similar third party participation system,features of the third party participation rule in international investment treaty arbitration will be discussed.Chapter III "The Subjects and Qualifications of Third Party Participation in International Investment Treaty Arbitration".This chapter starts by devided the third party subjects into two types,"General Third Party" and "Special Third Party".Qualifications will be measured in terms of professional ability,relevance to the case and independency.It moves on to list relevant arbitration practices.Then analyzes on problems thus arises,and tries to put forward specific suggestions for rule perfection.Chapter IV "The Conditions and Limitations on Third Party Participation in International Investment Treaty Arbitration".This chapter describes respectively the paticipation conditions and limitations of the two subjects.Then,analyzes the third party's participation conditions combined with the substantive requirements considering by the arbitral tribunals for accepting written submissions,and introduces the limitations on third party in the relevant rules.Further,makes a review on the relevant arbitral practice.After analyzing the problems arises thus,proposes corresponding suggestions.Chapter V "The Path and Mode of Third Party Participation in International Investment Treaty Arbitration".This chapter starts by defining what is the third party's participation path and participation mode.Then it illustrates the rules on participation path and participation mode.After reviewing on the relevant arbitral practices,it summarizes the features and problems arises thus,and provides suggestions for rule perfection.Chapter VI "Enlightenment".This chapter will be discussed from two perspectives:status quo and solutions.It will firstly introduce the latest state of international investment and Investor-State disputes that China being faced with,and the current situation of BIT on "third party participation".It moves on to analyze the possibility of encountering "third party participation" in the future's arbitrations.Then provide suggestions on how China could cope with such issues in terms of rule and practice.