Investor’s Responsibilities under International Investment Agreement

The purpose of the International Investment Agreement (IIAs) and investment arbitration is created to protect investor’s investment from Host State’s unlawful intervention and expropriation. However, as the system developed and evolved, it no longer limited to “investment dispute”. Instead, investors often challenge the Host State’s legislation on human rights, environment, public health protection, which highly involved State’s public policy. Any public authority measures may be regard as subject to the investment arbitration dispute, which highly impact on Host State’s policy and regulatory space. Moreover, Investment arbitration grant investor the right to protect investment and the right to arbitrate, however without imposing any responsibilities to the investors. In contrast, the Host State only bares the obligation without having corresponding rights under the agreement. When facing the Investor illegal conduct or violation of human rights measures, there’s no corresponding rights for Host States to exercise under IIAs. The investment system also be regard as “lack of asymmetry of rights and obligation”. In this dissertation, it will first attempt to establish the investor’s legal status under international investment law, arguing that the investor is an international entity which have the capacities to enjoy rights and bare responsibilities. Second, it will further analyze the responsibilities on investor illgal conduct of violating the Host State’s law, and establishing the investor’s obligations under International law. In the end, in response to the current system’s issues and challenges, the thesis provides a balance model of International Investemnt Agreement as the final suggestion.