On March 4, 2026, the UK Supreme Court handed down judgment in Kingdom of Spain v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l. and Republic of Zimbabwe v Border Timbers Ltd [2026] UKSC 9. A unanimous bench, with Lord Lloyd-Jones and Lady Simler writing, held that by agreeing to Article 54(1) of the ICSID Convention, contracting states submit to the adjudicative jurisdiction of the English courts under section 2(2) of the State Immunity Act 1978 and therefore cannot invoke immunity to resist registration of ICSID awards. The appeals concerned an intra-EU ECT award against Spain of EUR 112 million, later reduced by EUR 11 million, and a USD 124 million expropriation award against Zimbabwe under the Switzerland-Zimbabwe BIT. Immunity from execution against state assets under Article 55 is preserved, and Zimbabwe’s non-immunity defences were remitted to the Commercial Court. The ruling aligns the United Kingdom with appellate decisions in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere, closing off adjudicative immunity as a shield for the more than 150 ICSID contracting states. For capital-importing states, including in Africa, it heightens the exposure of commercial assets abroad once liability is established.