ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the notion of Investment Court System (ICS) refers to the two-tiered tribunal system, which constitutes the essential and unique character of the European Union (EU) proposal. It provides an academic analysis of the ICS proposal and China’s possible attitude, in particular with a view to the development of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in general. The inclusion of ISDS in Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was an argument for the need for ISDS in the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, since it is politically difficult to claim that the EU must avoid ISDS with the US because of its dangerous nature but must insist on it in the bilateral investment treaty with China at the same time. The background of the EU’s proposal on the ICS is a wider public debate about ISDS in TTIP involving European politicians and civil society.
