ICSID – Page 3 – Investment Treaty News

News in Brief

South Africa begins withdrawing from EU-member BITs South Africa has terminated its bilateral investment treaty with Belgium and Luxembourg, and intends to phase out other treaties with European countries. In […]

Inching Towards Consensus: An Update on the UNCITRAL Transparency Negotiations

From October 1-5, 2012, a working group of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law met in Vienna to continue work on how to ensure transparency in treaty-based investor-state arbitration. It was the working group’s fifth week-long meeting on the topic, but will not be the last.

Consent to Arbitration Through National Investment Legislation

National investment codes[1] may function as potential sources of international investment law. In other words, states may make unilateral undertakings within the framework of national investment legislations and, as a […]

News in Brief

Vattenfall launches new claim against Germany The Swedish state-run energy firm Vattenfall has launched a second claim against Germany. The claim stems from Germany’s May 2011 decision to phase-out its […]

News in Brief

Australia to reject investor-state dispute resolution in TPPA The Australian government will not sign on to investor-state dispute resolution provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), according to an Australian […]

Venezuela’s Withdrawal From ICSID: What it Does and Does Not Achieve

In January 2012, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela denounced the ICSID Convention,[1] becoming the third country – after Bolivia and Ecuador – to do so. The exit from the global […]

Defining an ICSID Investment: Why Economic Development Should be the Core Element

A dispute will only fall within the jurisdiction of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) if it directly arises out of an ‘investment’, as is provided by Article 25(1) of the Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention). However, not only does the ICSID Convention fail to provide any definition of what constitutes an ‘investment’, the drafters of the ICSID Convention, in fact, made an express decision not to include such a definition. This absence has given rise to interesting issues of interpretation as ICSID tribunals have sought to arrive at an understanding of how the term ‘investment’ should be properly understood for the purposes of the ICSID Convention.

Mission Creep: International Investment Agreements and Sovereign Debt Restructuring

As members of the Eurozone are now acutely aware, the lack of a sovereign debt restructuring regime is one of the most glaring gaps in the international financial architecture. That […]

Awards and Decisions

Arbitrator sharply critical of majority decision in Italian bondholder claim against Argentina Abaclat and Others (Case formerly known as Giovanna a Beccara and Others) v. Argentine Republic, ICSID Case No. […]

News in Brief

Philip Morris files for arbitration over intellectual property dispute with Australia The tobacco company Philip Morris filed for arbitration on 21 November 2011, claiming the government of Australia’s regulations on […]

Awards and Decisions

Swiss claimant fails jurisdictional stage for not qualifying as an ‘investor’ Alps Finance and Trade AG v. Slovak Republic Damon Vis-Dunbar A claim against the government of Slovakia has failed […]

Philip Morris v. Uruguay: Will investor-State arbitration send restrictions on tobacco marketing up in smoke?

For nearly two decades, the tobacco industry has used international investment rules to challenge governmentrestrictions on cigarette marketing. In 1994, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company threatened to bring a claim under […]

Awards and decisions

Georgia loses dispute with Greek and Israeli oil investors Ioannis Kardassopoulos and Ron Fuchs v. The Republic of Georgia (ICSID Case Nos. ARB/05/18 and ARB/07/15) Martin D. Brauch Two oil […]

Procedural requirements for arbitrator challenges: Finding fault with CEMEX v. Venezuela

One fundamental principle of investor-State arbitration is the ability of parties to have their disputes resolved by independent and impartial arbitrators. In order to ensure adherence to this principle, laws and rules governing investor-State arbitrations grant parties the right to challenge arbitrators lacking these qualifications. Given the importance of ensuring arbitrator independence and impartiality, and as evidenced by the recent decision in and subsequent commentary on Vivendi v. Argentina, practitioners and stakeholders in investor-State arbitrations are devoting significant efforts to defining the substantive standards warranting arbitrator challenges, and to understanding what those standards require in practice.

The transparency requirement in the new UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: A premonitory view

Ignacio Torterola In October, State delegations are expected to discuss the issue of transparency in the UNCITRAL Rules of Arbitration. Ignacio Torterola, ICSID Liaison at the Argentine Embassy in Washington, […]

Philip Morris initiates arbitration against Uruguay over new labeling requirements, taxes

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz May 11, 2010 Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) has initiated an ICSID arbitration against Uruguay over new rules requiring that 80% of cigarette pack surfaces […]

ICSID Panel Denies Ukraine’s Challenge to Arbitrator

By Elizabeth Whitsitt May 11, 2010 On March 19, 2010 two members of an ICSID arbitral tribunal – the Honourable Davis R. Robinson (President) and Dr. Stanimir A. Alexandrov – […]

Pan American Energy takes Bolivia to ICSID over nationalization of Chaco Petroleum

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz May 11, 2010 Anglo-Argentinean energy firm Pan American Energy (PAE) has initiated arbitration against Bolivia over the nationalization of its subsidiary Chaco Petroleum by the Morales […]

American gas services firm Exterran files for arbitration against Venezuela over nationalized assets

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz May 11, 2010 (NOTE: A correction has been made to this article. An explanation is posted below) Houston-based Exterran Holdings has taken Venezuela to ICSID over […]

Ad hoc committee confirms that Kazakhstan is on the hook for US$ 125 million

By Elizabeth Whitsitt April 8, 2010 An ad hoc committee, established pursuant to the ICSID Arbitration Rules, has rejected the annulment application of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The former Soviet […]

RSM Production Corp. files second arbitration against Grenada, sues Freshfields

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz April 8, 2010 On March 16, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) registered a second arbitration initiated by Denver-based RSM Production Corp against […]

Cemex v. Venezuela: Provisional Measures allowed in circumstances of necessity and urgency

By Elizabeth Whitsitt April 8, 2010 An ICSID tribunal has refused a request for provisional measures by the world’s third largest cement-producer. In its decision dated March 3, 2010, the […]

Bolivia ordered to suspend criminal proceedings in its ongoing dispute with Chilean chemical firm Quiborax

By Elizabeth Whitsitt April 8, 2010 An ICSID tribunal has granted provisional measures in a dispute between co-claimants Quiborax, Non Metallic Metals (NMM) and Allan Fosk Kalún and respondent state, […]

ICSID tribunal applies ad hoc approach to confidentiality in arbitral proceeding

By Ugo Ukpabi* March 11, 2010 In Giovanna A Beccara and Others v. The Argentine Republic a tribunal composed of Pierre Tercier, Georges Abi – Saab, and Albert Jan Van […]

Tribunals have been constituted in ICSID cases involving Egypt, Cambodia and Argentina

By Elizabeth Whitsitt March 11, 2010 In the past two months, arbitral tribunals have been convened in a few ICSID arbitrations. Most recently, a tribunal was constituted in a dispute […]

In Brief: Proceedings are suspended in dispute between French oil company and Ecuador

By Elizabeth Whitsitt March 11, 2010 Thomas Bingham, President of the ICSID tribunal in Perenco Ecuador Limited v. Ecuador has resigned. At the center of the dispute between Perenco and […]

In Memorium: Sir Ian Brownlie Q.C. (1932 – 2010)

By Elizabeth Whitsitt March 11, 2010 A prominent figure in the field of public international law passed unexpectedly on January 3, 2010 at age 77. According to reports, Professor Brownlie […]

ICSID finds that corruption has no place in annulment proceedings

By Elizabeth Whitsitt February 14, 2010 American businessman, Jack J. Grynberg, has suffered another setback in his company’s ongoing dispute with Grenada. Commenced in 2005, the ICSID claim was one […]

Consortium building new Quito Airport takes Ecuador to ICSID

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz February 14, 2010 Corporacion Quiport S.A., the company building the new Quito international airport, has initiated arbitration proceedings at ICSID against the Republic of Ecuador in […]

ICSID tribunal affirms power to exclude counsel, but declines to do so

By Elizabeth Whitsitt February 14, 2010 An ICSID tribunal, composed Sir Franklin Berman, Mr. Donald Donovan and Mr. Marc Lalonde, has determined that Mr. Barton Legum, a partner with Salans […]

Ad Hoc Committee refuses to lift stay of enforcement or require security regarding ICSID award against Argentina

By Elizabeth Whitsitt January 13, 2010 An ad hoc committee composed of Dr. Gavan Griffith Q.C., Judge Patrick L. Robinson, and Judge Per Tresselt has decided to continue to stay […]

ICSID Tribunal sides with Chile, rejects claimant’s partial revision request in long running dispute over El Clarin newspaper

By Fernando Cabrera Diaz January 13, 2010 An ICSID tribunal has rejected a partial revision request by Pey Casado and the Presidente Allende Foundation of an award rendered in their […]