中外BITs对香港的适用问题初探

Preliminary Discussion on the Applicability of Sino-foreign BITs to Hong Kong

2007年香港居民蔡叶深向ICSID申请投资仲裁这一案件引发了中外BITs能否适用于香港特区这一问题。尽管从BITs中关于"投资者"的定义中似乎可以得出肯定的结论,但根据《维也纳条约法公约》的解释规则、中国法律的规定以及中国政府的惯常做法,我们可以得出这样的结论:中外BITs中的"投资者"并不包括"在香港有永久性居留权的中国公民",即中外BITs不适用于香港特区。

In 2007, Tza Yap Shum, a Hong Kong resident, applied to the ICSID for an investment-arbitration. One key issue has derived from this case, that is, whether Sino-foreign BITs are applicable to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It seems that we can get a positive conclu- sion based on the definition of ＂investor＂ in Sino-foreign BITs, however, according to Vienna Con- vention on the Law of Treaties, Chinese laws and the practices of Chinese government, the term ＂in- vestor＂ in Sino-foreign BITs does not include ＂the permanent residents in Hong Kong＂, namely, Sino-foreign BITs are not applicable to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.