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Author	Asst Prof Chotika Wittayawarakul
Organisation/Institution	Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Law
Country	THAILAND
Panel	International Investment Law
Title	History and Evolution of Denial of Benefits Clause in International Investment Agreements: A Focus on Asian Countries’ Practice
Abstract	Denial of benefits clauses are one of the instruments served to limit the benefit of the international investment agreements by excluding certain classes of investors that fail to meet the requirements. Recently, the clauses have gained more attention due to their crucial role in tackling nationality planning to secure investment treaty protection. Host states have invoked them in investment treaty arbitration with a different degree of success which raises questions about procedural as well as substantive requirements of the clauses and highlights the importance of careful treaty drafting. The most typical use of denial of benefits clauses is to allow a State to deny benefits of the international investment agreement to investors that are owned or controlled by nationals of third parties and have no substantial business operation in another State party. However, denial of benefits clauses have evolved and become more sophisticated to serve various objectives. This paper will explore the history and evolution of denial of benefit clauses in selected Asian countries’ investment treaty practice to examine the ways in which these clauses have been used, how they are formulated, factors that contribute to their evolution as well as difficulties that might arise in the application of the clauses. It is hoped that the paper could establish if there is any distinctive feature of Asian denial of benefit clauses.
Biography	Chotika Wittayawarakul is an assistant professor of law at Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Law, Bangkok. She teaches various international law courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students, including international law seminar, private international law, international economic law, international investment law. Her recent research focuses on the impact of international investment agreements on the judiciary. Dr. Wittayawarakul completed her LLB with second class hours from Thammasat University and MJur from the University of Oxford. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Manchester.