ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the issue of transparency in investment-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the making of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. It presents a review of the ‘transparency trend’ of the development of the ISDS mechanism. The chapter also discusses the parties’ growing consensus and selected outstanding issues in addressing the transparency issue, including the incorporation of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, the publication of relevant arbitral documents, and third-party participation in ISDS. In International investment agreements (IIA)-making, the concept of transparency in ISDS remains largely undefined or unclearly defined, despite it frequently being used in legal instruments, policy statements, and academic literature. China has come to realize that in future IIA-making, the existing ISDS mechanism should be improved for more legitimacy. China and the European Union share a growing consensus on pursuing greater transparency in ISDS.
