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, […]
United Kingdom Arbitration
Arbitration and World Wide Freezing Orders: U&M Mining Zambia v. Konkola Copper Mines, English High Court (2014)
U&M Mining Zambia Ltd v Konkola Copper Mines Plc [2014] EWHC 3250 (Comm) (10 October 2014) concerns the issuance of world wide freezing orders (“WFO”) against a losing party to an arbitration. By way of background, a dispute had arisen out of a contract entered into by the parties for the provision by U&M Mining […]
MALICORP LIMITED V. THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT (ICSID CASE NO. ARB/08/18) – AWARD
The dispute between Malicorp Ltd, an English Company, and the Republic of Egypt, arose out of the allegedly illegal termination of a concession contract amounting to a violation of the Bilateral Investment Treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Egypt of 1975 (the “BIT”). In 2000, Malicorp was awarded a […]
BG GROUP PLC. V. REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA – CASE NO. U.S. 12-138 (2014) – U.S. SUPREME COURT
In this dispute, the Claimant was part of a consortium owning majority shares in MetroGas, for the distribution of natural gas in Buenos Aires. Before the 2001 financial crisis, Argentinean law provided that gas tariffs were calculated in US dollars for profitable returns. However, the crisis led to emergency measures, one of which implemented a […]
SAINT-GOBAIN PERFORMANCE PLASTICS EUROPE V. THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA (ICSID CASE NO. ARB/12/13) – DECISION ON PROPOSAL TO DISQUALIFY ARBITRATOR of 27 February 2013
On 25 May 2012, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Europe filed a request for arbitration against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for breaches to the Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between France and Venezuela of 15 April 2004. After appointment of the arbitrators by each party, Claimant filed for the disqualification of the arbitrator […]
The Presumption of Separability in International Arbitration
The presumption of separability in international arbitration means that the validity of an international arbitration agreement is separate and analyzed independently from the rest of a contract. It may be the case that only the arbitration agreement itself is valid while the rest of the contract is not, or vice versa. This presumption is recognized […]
Formal Requirements an Arbitration Award Must Satisfy to Be Enforceable in England and Wales: Anthony Lombard-Knight v Rainstorm [2014] EWCA Civ 356
This case concerns the formal requirements that an arbitration award must satisfy in order to be enforceable in England and Wales under the New York Convention of 1958 and the Arbitration Act 1996. Those instruments require that an arbitration award be duly authenticated or that its copy be duly certified. This case concerns the meaning […]
Condition Precedents to Arbitration: Emirate Trading Agency LLC v Prime Mineral Exports [2014] EWHC
Condition precedents to arbitration are common, especially with respect to provisions indicating that the parties must negotiate for a certain period prior to commencing arbitral proceedings. Emirate Trading Agency LLC v Prime Mineral Exports concerned a dispute arising out of a contract for the sale and purchase of iron ore entered into by the parties […]
Indonesia ICSID Arbitration Found Inadmissible Due to Fraud
An Indonesia ICSID arbitration has been found to be inadmissible on the basis of fraud. By an award on 6 December 2016, the Arbitral Tribunal of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) rejected Churchill Mining and Planet Mining Pty Ltd’s claim for compensation (USD 1.95 billion) against the Republic of Indonesia under […]
