Abstract
This entry covers the procedural rules of general international law by which a State might succeed to a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). It explores how arbitral tribunals and domestic courts interpret and apply the rules of State succession in investment disputes. Several issues affected international investment law, some of which include the transfer of rights and obligations in a BIT and the jurisdiction of an investment arbitral tribunal based on that treaty. The entry then details the limited scope for the direct applicability of the Vienna Convention on the Succession of States with respect to Treaties 1978 (VCSST) to BITs. It then considers the key issue surrounding the interpretation of silence.