4 Non-Discrimination Treatment

Subject(s):

Arbitral tribunals — Awards

The non-discrimination principle is one of the fundamental principles underpinning international investment treaties. Its most common manifestations are the most-favoured-nation clause (MFN) and the national treatment (NT) clause. All Chinese BITs and FTAs have included some form of non-discrimination requirements—all of them have an MFN clause, whilst fewer than half of them also have an NT clause. This chapter deals with the two standards of non-discrimination treatment: most-favoured-nation treatment and national treatment. For each standard, the general meaning and application by arbitration tribunals of are analyzed. The particularities of such standard under Chinese investment treaties are then examined.