Investment arbitration, like any arbitration, is a creature of contract. A party submitting a case to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (the “Centre”) therefore must ensure that their adversaries have consented to arbitrate. This article answers the ‘what, how, and when’ of consent in investment arbitration. What is “Consent”? Article 25(1) of […]
ICSID Arbitration
The Cost of Investment Arbitration: UNCITRAL, ICSID Proceedings and Third-Party Funding
Party Costs in Investment Arbitration In a recent article by Global Arbitration Review, the second edition of a recent empirical study reveals that the cost of investment arbitration is unfortunately on the rise yet again. Since 2013, average party costs were a massive USD 7.41 million for claimants and USD 5.19 million for respondents. Before then, […]
Provisional Measures in International Investment Arbitration – To What Extent Are They Binding and Enforceable?
The authority of arbitral tribunals to grant interim or provisional measures in international investment arbitration is today uncontested and represents current practice[1]. This “inherent power”[2] of arbitral tribunals is encompassed in multiple investment arbitration instruments, such as Article 47 of the ICSID Convention, Article 39 of the ICSID Arbitration Rules, Article 26 of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and Article 1134 of the […]
Lessons from Venezuela: ICSID’s Post-Denunciation Phase
Protests. News bulletins. Calls for treaty reform and withdrawal. In a political and economic climate of a potential post-arbitration age, governments and communities are in the throes of debate. Going forward, however, leaders would be mindful to learn from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its recent ICSID debacle when it faced two series […]
Investor’s Consent to ICSID Arbitration Under Côte d’Ivoire’s Investment Code
A request for acceptance of the investment constitutes valid evidence of the investor’s consent to ICSID arbitration under Côte d’Ivoire’s Investment Code. This is the finding of the arbitral tribunal in an ICSID arbitration initiated by an Ivoirian company, Société Resort Company Invest Abidjan, and two French nationals, Stanislas Citerici and Gérard Bot, against the Republic of […]
Provisional Measures in ICSID Investment Arbitration
The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention allows parties to an ICSID arbitration to request provisional measures from arbitral tribunals. Provisional measures are frequently requested in the course of arbitrations, and the ICSID has compiled a comprehensive table with past requests for provisional measures, showing when requests for provisional measures in […]
Enforcement of an ICSID Arbitration Award in the United Kingdom and EU Law
The enforcement of an ICSID investment arbitration award in the United Kingdom can be a complex matter, especially when doing so would arguably violate EU law. In January 2017, the UK High Court delivered a judgement to stay enforcement proceedings of the final ICSID award in the case of Ioan Micula and others v Romania, […]
SAUR INTERNATIONAL SA V. REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA (ICSID CASE NO. ARB/04/4)
The Claimant in this case was a subsidiary of Société d’Aménagement Urbain et Rural, S.A., specializing in water production, water treatment, water distribution and sanitization. The Claimant had participated and won a bid by the Province of Mendoza to privatize the Argentinian company Obras Sanitarias Mendoza (“OSM”). OSM and the Province then signed a concession […]
GETMA INTERNATIONAL, NCT NECOTRANS, GETMA INTERNATIONAL INVESTISSEMENTS & NCT INFRASTRUCTURE & LOGISTIQUE v. THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA – ICSID 28 June 2012
This decision relates to the Respondent’s request to disqualify one of the arbitrators, namely Mr. Bernardo M. Cremades, who had been appointed by the Claimant. The Claimant had filed for arbitration at the ICSID on 29 September 2011 under the ICSID Convention and the Investment Code of the Republic of Guinea. The Parties agreed that […]
