COVID-19 and International Business and Economic Law: China and a Changing World

Summary

This edited volume gathers papers first presented at a 2020 conference convened by the Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre at UNSW Sydney, examining how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped international business and economic law, with particular attention to China. Its chapters address the effects of the pandemic on competition law enforcement, on corporate governance and variable interest entity structures, on foreign investment flows and investor-State dispute settlement, and on the conduct of commercial mediation, arbitration and online dispute resolution at a time of travel restrictions and remote hearings. Taken together, the contributions document how Chinese and international legal frameworks adapted in real time to the disruption, and consider which of those adaptations — from expanded remote proceedings to renewed attention to investment treaty safeguards — are likely to endure.