The China-EU BIT: The Emerging 'Global BIT 2.0'?
Columbia FDI Perspectives, No. 128, August 18, 2014
3 Pages Posted: 6 Jan 2017
Date Written: August 18, 2014
Abstract
Since China and the European Union (EU) announced their decision to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) at the 14th China-EU Summit in February 2012, the two sides have engaged in two rounds of negotiations. If successful, it will be the first standalone EU BIT, a BIT between the world's largest developed economy and the world's largest developing economy, and will occupy a unique place in the history of BIT negotiations.
Although there are currently BIT arrangements between China and all but one EU member state, the China-EU BIT negotiations would involve far more work than simply consolidating or “[streamlining] the existing BITs between China and 26 EU Member States into a single and coherent text.” Indeed, it can be expected that both parties would seize this opportunity to update and upgrade their investment treaty arrangements, taking into account recent investment treaty practices in general and those of the two parties in particular, including their investment treaty/chapter negotiations with the United States. The most challenging and promising issues are likely to be market access and dispute resolution.
Keywords: China-EU BIT; 'Global BIT 2.0'; market access; dispute solution
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation