Arbitration of Investment Agreements Related to Measures of Importing Countries in Goods Trade under Free Trade Agreements: Vento v. Mexico

Purpose: This study analyzes issues over the national treatment clause, the most favored nation clause, and jurisdiction in international commercial arbitration under free trade agreements. Based on these clauses, implications after analyzing Vento v. Mexico are presented. Research design, data, and methodology: Adopting the literature research method, this study utilizes major related papers and Internet data. Results: For discriminatory application of an import restriction, an investor would need to identify other investors using the same trade agreement on which it is based, and must demonstrate that the import restriction does not likewise apply to these other investors. However, in this case, there is also a limitation in that it is more difficult for an investor who uses a unique business model that other investors do not use, to make a claim based on discriminatory treatment. Conclusions: The claimant in this case filed for ① discriminatory treatment by the Mexican government (breach of NT/MFN) and ② MST breach (lack of due process, etc.) by the Mexican government, but all of them were rejected.