Investment Arbitration

Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, BIT, Confidentiality, Dispute resolution clause, Investment Arbitration

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

In a judgment dated 25 April 2012 (Lombard North Central plc and another v GATX Corporation [2012] EWHC 1067 (Comm)), Judge Andrew Smith of the English High Court (Commercial Court) underlined the potential risks that might arise from arbitration clauses which have a limited scope. Although this judgment is relevant to a number of different…

Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Latin America

(Von Wobeser y Sierra, S.C.)/ /4 Comments

For almost 20 years, Mexico has been at the forefront of Latin-American arbitration practice. It has been widely recognized both in terms of the quality and sophistication of its practitioners, its modern legal framework (since 1993 based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration) and for its arbitration friendly judiciary. According to statistics…

Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(Investment Arbitration Reporter)/ /2 Comments

This week, Spanish energy firm Repsol put Argentina on notice of an arbitration claim under the Spain-Argentina bilateral investment treaty. The development comes as no surprise, as Repsol had been threatening for some weeks to take such a course if Argentina persisted in nationalizing the bulk of Repsol’s 57% stake in the Argentine firm YPF….

Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Section 1782 Discovery

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /2 Comments

When is an arbitral panel an international tribunal for purposes of Section 1782? Section 1782, of course, is the U.S. statute that authorizes federal courts to order discovery in aid of proceedings before foreign courts and international tribunals. As discussed in a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of International Law entitled, Ancillary Discovery to…

BIT, Commercial Arbitration, International Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(University of Portsmouth)/ /10 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The concept of good faith has been a subject of perennial controversy since it was derived from the Roman legal equivalent ‘bonas fides’. Juristic views on and the legal conceptualization of the idea of good faith may often vary across the cultural divides and legal traditions. At a higher level of abstraction there may be…

Arbitration Awards, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Investment Arbitration

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White Industries Australia Limited v. Republic of India (White v. India) is the latest in a growing line of cases where international investors have successfully resorted to investment treaty arbitration to recover sums owed under international commercial arbitral awards where there have been extensive delays enforcing those awards in domestic courts. However, the potential scope…

International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

(Richmond School of Law)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law is next week (March 28 – 31) at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC. (register here.) I have the honor to co-chair the meeting with Cymie Payne and Harlan Cohen and, together with a wonderful Program Committee, we put together a great program centered around…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, BIT, Class arbitration, International arbitration, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

International arbitration has long played an important role in resolving disputes that arise out of political and economic crises.   “Arbitration in Times of Crisis” is the theme of the 9th Annual ITA-ASIL Conference on 28 March 2012 in Washington, D.C. (see program).   The conference will focus on lessons from the past use of arbitral mechanisms…

Domestic Courts, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

(Legaleidescope)/ /1 Comment

It appears that the Supreme Court of Pakistan is gradually paying attention to developments in International Arbitration and to the negative remarks the Court received in the past for its hostility towards international arbitration proceedings. Without any stretch, the Supreme Court of Pakistan is widely quoted around the world as the case in point for…

Anti-suit injunction, BIT, Investment Arbitration, North America

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /3 Comments

Last week was a blockbuster one in the ongoing battle between Chevron and Ecuador. On Wednesday, the arbitral tribunal adjudicating Chevron’s BIT claim issued an Interim Award ordering Ecuador “to take all measures at its disposal to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement or recognition within or without Ecuador of any judgment against…

BIT, ICSID Convention, International Law, Investment Arbitration

(Essex Court Chambers)/ /4 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

In February 2010, Philip Morris International (PMI) filed a request for arbitration under the ICSID Convention against the Republic of Uruguay. 1)Philip Morris Brand Sàrl (Switzerland), Philip Morris Products S.A. (Switzerland) and Abal Hermanos S.A. (Uruguay) v. Oriental Republic of Uruguay (ICSID Case No. ARB/10/7). Pending (the Respondent filed a memorial on jurisdiction on September…

Annulment, Anti-arbitration, Appeal, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, kompetenz-kompetenz, New York Convention, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Principle of finality, Set aside an international arbitral award

(Independent Arbitrator)/ /Leave a comment

It has become fashionable in recent years, each time an ICSID annulment decision is released that takes issue with the procedures or reasoning of an ICSID tribunal, for commentators to bemoan the lack of certainty, predictability and finality that this reflects in the ICSID system for adjudicating investment treaty disputes between investors and host States….

Anti-suit injunction, Investment Arbitration, South America

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /1 Comment

On January 3, 2012 an Ecuador Appeals Court affirmed the $18 billion judgment against Chevron in the long-running battle over environmental damage. (Available in English and the original Spanish here). According to an unofficial English translation of the sixteen page opinion, the Court dismissed all of Chevron’s arguments, including the allegations of fraud. Here is…

Annulment, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, arbitrators’ conduct, BIT, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration

(US Department of State)/ /Leave a comment

Iura novit curia (usually translated as “the court knows the law”) refers to the power and/or obligation of a court to conduct its own legal analysis outside the parties’ pleadings. While there are very few decisions on iura novit curia in the investment treaty arbitration context, a small number of investment treaty arbitral tribunals and…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

With the release of the Dissenting Opinion in Abaclat v. Agentina, we now have the benefit of a forceful critique of the majority’s decision that the Abaclat Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina under the ICSID Convention and the Argentina-Italy BIT.  Professor Georges Abi-Saab’s Dissenting Opinion (the…

Africa, China, Commercial Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Libya

(Villanova University)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

Two things are currently unfolding in Africa: significant economic progress and profound political transformation. On the economic front, in the last decade, Africa has been one of the fastest growing continents in the world. Indeed, according to the International Monetary Fund, in the next five years, Africa is expected to be the fastest growing continent,…

BIT, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, State of necessity

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At the time the General Assembly of the United Nations was deciding to include in the agenda of its fifty-sixth 1)Resolution A/RES/56/83 – 12 Dec. 2001 GA/9998 session the text of the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (The Draft) adopted by the International Law Commission (ILC), the Argentine Republic was…

Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(Investment Arbitration Reporter)/ /2 Comments

As Roger Alford mentioned previously, New York University Law School hosted a discussion of the Chevron-Ecuador dispute on October 24th. The event was subject to the Chatham House rules, so my notes below should not be attributed to any particular panelist or audience members. However, in the case of moderator Michael Goldhaber, his views have…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Efficiency, Foreign Investment Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Public Policy

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

In its 4 August 2011 Decision on Jurisdiction and Admissibility, the majority of the Tribunal in Abaclat and Others (Case formerly known as Giovanna a Beccara and Others) v. Argentine Republic affirmed that it had jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina arising out of Argentina’s default on various sovereign…

Arbitration, Canada, Enforcement, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, NAFTA

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

As we approach the first anniversary of the UK Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the case of Dallah Estate and Tourism Holding Company v The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan, it is only fitting that we would encounter a case which would cause us to revisit the issue of the proper standard of…

Enforcement, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(Investment Arbitration Reporter)/ /2 Comments

Recent reports of the freezing of Russian government funds at the Stockholm Arbitration Institute may be premature, but it still remains possible that a Swedish bailiff could move to seize such funds. At the time of this writing, a freezing request by German businessman Franz Sedelmayer remained under active review at a Swedish government debt…

Domestic Courts, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment Arbitration

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /Leave a comment
WilmerHale

In August 2011, the tribunal in Abaclat and others v Argentina decided (by a majority) that it had jurisdiction over claims brought by approximately 60,000 Italian investors, and that the claims were admissible.1)Argentina has in the meantime requested the disqualification of the two arbitrators responsible for the decision and the proceedings are currently suspended. The…

Investment Arbitration

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /Leave a comment

On Monday, October 24, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion at NYU on the The Implications of Chevron v. Ecuador for Investor-State Arbitration. The event will be held at 6 p.m. at Furman Hall 900, 245 Sullivan Street, New York. The event is sponsored by NYU Law School’s Institute for International Law and Justice….

BIT, ICSID Convention, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration

(University of Michigan Law School)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

My previous post described years of apparently intractable debate between two opposing camps of international lawyers about what kinds of economic activity should get international investment protections. This post will explain how that dispute was settled for the purpose of ICSID jurisdiction, and with what legal result. As the dispute ground on throughout the final…