The Canada-China FIPPA: Its Uniqueness and Non-Reciprocity

Abstract

It is demonstrated that the signed (but not ratified) Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA) is novel and, in key respects, non-reciprocal in favour of China. For example, the FIPPA would provide a general right of market access by Chinese investors to Canada but not by Canadian investors to China, allow wider scope for investment screening by China than by Canada, remove a longstanding Canadian reservation for performance requirements that favour aboriginal peoples, and dilute Canada's established position on transparency in investor-state arbitration. These and other aspects of the FIPPA are highlighted via a comparison to other trade and investment treaties, especially of Canada, that provide for investor-state arbitration. The article responds partly to claims by Canadian trade officials that the FIPPA is unremarkable because it simply continues Canada’s past practice.

Keywords: bilateral investment treaty, investor-state arbitration, FIPPA, BIT