EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

The EU and China concluded in principle the negotiations for the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) on 30th of December 2020. The aim of this conference is to discuss the progress of investment liberalisation pursued by the negotiators of the EU and China in concluding the CAI. This conference consists of discussions corresponding to the substantive and procedural parts of the CAI.

This conference will be suitable for political economists, legal scholars, and practitioners who have an interest in knowing the EU-China bilateral investment law and policy development. This conference is free to attend and will adopt a hybrid format via Zoom and in-person in Birmingham Law School Lecture Theatre 2. A zoom link will be sent closer to the date.

Schedule

9am-9.30am Registration

9.30am Opening address: Martin Trybus Univeristy of Birmingham (UK)

9.45am-11am Geopolitics and negotiations

Chair: Henok Asmelash University of Birmingham (UK)

• Duncan Freeman Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
  The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment and Political Economy of Interdependence 
• Sohyun Zoe Lee Queen’s University Belfast (UK)
  The Political Economy of China and the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
• I-Ju Chen University of Birmingham (UK)
  The EU and China: In Search of Positioning and Exercising Normative Power in Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

Discussant: Pasha L. Hsieh Singapore Management University (Singapore)

11am-11.10am Break

11.10am-12.50pm Substantive aspect (Part I)

Chair: Chukwuma Okoli University of Birmingham (UK)

• Xueji Su Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR, China)
  National Treatment plus Negative List Approach in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment – A Step forward in Liberalising the Chinese Market?
• Alexandr Svetlicinii University of Macau (Macau SAR, China)
  The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: Disciplining Competition Law Enforcement in China?
• Wei Yin Southwest University of Political Science and Law (China)
  The Disciplines of State-Owned Enterprises in the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: Assessment, Implications and Directions
• Ben Czapnik Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR, China)
  Regulating Subsidies in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment: Building Blocks for Deeper Reform

Discussant: Bryan Mercurio Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong SAR, China)

12.50pm-1.30pm Lunch: Birmingham Law School Senior Common Room

1.30pm-2.20pm Substantive aspect (Part II)

Chair: Chen Wei Zhu University of Birmingham (UK)

• Mark McLaughlin Singapore Management University (Singapore)
  EU-China Data Realms and Comprehensive Agreement on Investment 
• Danny Friedmann Peking University (China)
  Intellectual Property Dimension of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

Discussant: Jie (Jeanne) Huang University of Sydney (Australia)

2.20pm-2.30pm Break

2.30pm-3.45pm Dispute resolution mechanisms

Chair: Georgia Antonopoulou University of Birmingham (UK)

• Anran Zhang International Chamber of Commerce - Arbitration and ADR, North Asia
  A New Dish of “CAI”: Dispute Settlement Provisions of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment      
• Ming Du Durham University (UK)
  Explaining China’s Approach to Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform: Implications for the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
• Sara Migliorini University of Macau (Macau SAR, China) and Naina Gupta Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
  Non-Adversarial Dispute Resolution Methods in the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment

Discussant: Geraldo Vidigal University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

3.45pm-4pm Closing session: I-Ju Chen