fair and equitable treatment

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By Denning Jin King and Wood Mallesons’ IP Litigation Group

Introduction

Fair and equitable treatment (FET) originated from the Havana Charter of 1948 and the adoption of the FET standard accelerated in the late 1960s and in the 1970s when it was widely incorporated in bilateral investment treaties. By the end of 2009, 2,750 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have been concluded,[i] and the vast majority have incorporated FET together with other standards such as full protection and security, using very similar language, as a safeguard against violations by the host state.[ii] However, it was not until the early twenty-first century that FET was applied in investor-state arbitral jurisprudence,[iii] where claimants lodged claims and tribunals found host state liability based on FET.
Continue Reading Fair and Equitable Treatment – Should the Standard be Differentiated According to Level of Development, Government Capacity and Resources of Host Countries?

By Monique Carroll and Ariel Ye King & Wood Mallesons’ Dispute Resolution Group

We recently wrote about how foreign investors can use investment treaties to protect investments made abroad from political risk[i]. ‘Political risk’ in foreign investment is the risk that an investment will be adversely effected by a host country’s political or regulatory decisions. We now look more closely at how Chinese investors can gain investment treaty protection.

Whilst developed Western countries have historically been the greatest proponents of investment treaties, China has now entered into more investment treaties than any other country besides Germany. One can assume that the Chinese government’s motivation for agreeing to so many treaties is to increase the protections provided to Chinese investors abroad. It also signals a willingness to provide the same protections to investments made in China.
Continue Reading Guide to obtaining investment protection for Chinese investors