国际投资与环境保护的法律冲突与协调——以晚近区域性投资条约及相关案例为研究对象

经济一体化所带来的环境损害已成为国际社会关注的焦点问题之一。国际社会已开始尝试运用贸易投资条约防范贸易投资自由化带来的消极环境影响。以《北美自由贸易协定》为代表的国际投资法立法新模式,在其投资章节中规定了环境条款,试图兼顾投资自由和环境保护两种利益需求。虽然实践表明,该协定仍然没有有效协调投资与环境保护之间的关系,并在执行上出现了诸多法律冲突,但该协议所彰显的贸易投资自由化不得以牺牲环境为代价的立法理念和原则,可能会成为未来国际经济法中重要的理念和原则,将会对未来国际投资法和国际经济法的发展产生重大而深远的影响。

Legal Conflicts and Their Avoidance in the Area of International Investment and Environment Protection: A Study of the Latest Regional Investment Treaty and Relevant Cases

Environmental pollution caused by economic integration has become one of the heated topics in international society,which has begun to employ international trade and investment treaties to avert the adverse impact on the environment exerted by liberal trade and investment.The signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement and its sub-agreement,the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation is deemed as a landmark in environmental protection,which tries to care for both free investigation and environmental protection.Though the Trade Agreement fails to regulate effectively the relationship between investment and environmental protection and people find many legal conflicts in its implementation,the idea and principle embodied in it that we cannot sacrifice environment for pursuing free trade and investment will probably become a very important notion and principle in future international economic law and will exert a considerable and deep influence on the evolution of international investment law and international economic law.