Profile
Dr Qin joined Beijing Normal University (BNU) Law School as a lecturer in law in October 2012. Before joining BNU, she completed her LLM and PhD from the University of Manchester, UK. Her principal research interests are in the areas of International Economic Law, WTO law, International Investment Law and the Laws relating to Foreigners’ Land Ownership. She sat on the Editorial Advisory Board of International Journal of Law in the Built Environment (2012-2015) and is a Member of the Comparative Law Research Association of China Law Society. She has published one monograph and a number of papers in both Chinese and UK journals. She has led and participated in many research projects funded by China’s Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University and private companies.
Research
Research Interests:
International Investment Law
Research title:
Investment Court System (ICS): Its Current Issues and Prospect
Research outline:
I will conduct an in-depth analysis of the following questions to assess the prospect of the Investment Court System (ICS), a regime proposed by the EU in 2015, which essentially reforms the traditional Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. Firstly, I will examine several key issues that affect the implementation of ICS, including its appointment of judges, costs, and efficiency of adjudications. My particular concern is to what extent would the impartiality of judges be affected by the current appointment system (i.e. judges appointed by member states through a joint committee with a fixed-term). Secondly, I will look at the enforcement of ICS awards. I am interested in finding out whether ICS awards can qualify as ‘arbitral’ and subsequently be enforced under the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention. But, if not, what’s the alternative? Thirdly, I will study the relationship of ICS with the European Court of Justice and other international tribunals, and look at the autonomy of the EU legal orders to see whether they are compatible. Finally, I will investigate the political incentives of related parties in order to better assess the potential of ICS. I will finally examine China’s corresponding strategies for the ICS in the China-EU BIT and FTA negotiations.
