Corruption, International arbitration

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By Luke Eric Peterson There’s perennial discussion in the arbitration world as to the definition and legal implications of corruption in the context of international arbitration – including for example in a recent investment case involving Uzbekistan – but it’s less common to see discussions of corruption in the context of relations between arbitration lawyers…

CAFTA, International arbitration, Latin America, United States

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The Office of the United States Trade Representative has issued another update on its long-running dispute with Guatemala over lax protection of worker rights in the latter country. Readers of this blog may recall that the United States initiated a state-to-state arbitration against Guatemala in 2011, invoking for the first time a fast-track arbitration mechanism…

Uncategorized

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The Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Argentina have moved to terminate an arbitral proceeding currently pending at the Permanent Court of Arbitration Readers of this blog may recall that Argentina initiated arbitration pursuant to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in response to the October 2012 detention in Ghana…

China, International arbitration, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Uncategorized

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The Permanent Court of Arbitration has just updated its website so as to offer information about the pending arbitration initiated by the Philippines against China pursuant to Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Readers may recall that the Philippines requested arbitration in January of this year, citing a…

CAFTA, State-to-state arbitration, Uncategorized

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It looks like the first state-to-state arbitration under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) may have fizzled out. In August of 2011, I reported in this space that the United States of America was initiating arbitration against the Republic of Guatemala. The U.S.A. turned to arbitration after determining that Guatemala was failing to enforce…

Foreign Investment Law, International arbitration, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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In an earlier post, I’d highlighted five notable legal highlights from 2012. Below, and somewhat belatedly, I offer my post-mortem on some key policy developments from 2012. 1. Venezuela and South Africa beat a retreat Venezuela’s exit from ICSID was perhaps the most visible policy story of 2012. The move could bolster the caseload of…

Dispute Resolution, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Uncategorized

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In the final days of 2012, I spent some time flipping back through the stories we’ve covered at Investment Arbitration Reporter, looking to identify the year’s most notable developments. I’ve settled on ten that I think are particularly noteworthy. Half of them are legal in nature, and are highlighted below. The other five are in…

International arbitration, NAFTA, Transparency in investment arbitrations

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Transparency of investment treaty arbitration is back on the radar this week as delegations convene in Vienna for the latest meeting of the UNCITRAL Working Group II on Arbitration and Conciliation. While governments debate the scope and content of new transparency obligations, one issue that has received less attention is a sometimes-seen corollary of greater…

ICSID Convention, International arbitration, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Latin America

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In a recent blog post, Gary Born highlighted the current role of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in administering state-to-state arbitrations. Given that the PCA has recently released its Annual Report for 2011, I thought I’d complement Gary’s post with some further information about the PCA’s role in administering investor-to-state arbitrations. It’s useful to set…

Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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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….

CAFTA, Expedited arbitration, State-to-state arbitration

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It looks like The Amazing Kreskin can rest easy. Last August, I tried my hand at forecasting the future, and I’m not sure I brought credit to the field of prognostication. In my earlier blog post, I’d commented on a novel state-to-state arbitration initiated by the United States against the Republic of Guatemala. (The U.S….

Arbitration Proceedings, ICSID Convention, Transparency in investment arbitrations

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It’s been nearly two months since public hearings concluded in an ICSID arbitration brought by a U.S. investor, Railroad Development Corporation, against the Republic of Guatemala. And it’s been about 8 months since public hearings wrapped up in another ICSID arbitration between Pacific Rim and the Republic of El Salvador. Both proceedings were webcast online,…

Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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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…

Enforcement, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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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…

ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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If you’ve been watching the headlines this month, you may have noticed that the United States of America has launched a novel arbitration against the Republic of Guatemala. The claim alleges that Guatemala is failing to enforce its own labour laws, thus falling afoul of international legal obligations written into the U.S. Free Trade Agreement…

BIT, Compensation for Moral Damages, International Law, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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As has been chronicled in previous postings, the 2008 decision of an ICSID arbitral tribunal to award $1 Million (US) in “moral damages” to an injured company has been eyed covetously by other investor-claimants in investment treaty disputes. Such sums may be “small change” compared to the more conventional forms of economic compensation claimed for…

Africa, Asia-Pacific, BIT, Canada, Energy Charter Treaty, Europe, International arbitration, International Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, NAFTA, North America, Russia, Set aside an arbitral award, Set aside an international arbitral award, South America

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Last year, around this time, I offered a list of 10 investor-state arbitral awards I hoped to see in 2010. If time permits, I may do another list for 2011. But, first I thought I’d take a look back at last year’s list and offer a brief update on those cases. Rather, than do all…

Enforcement, ICC Arbitration, Supreme Court, UK

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The UK Supreme Court released its judgment today in a much-written about dispute pitting a Saudi company against the Government of Pakistan. In the judgment, the Court declined to enforce a 2006 ICC arbitral award in favour of Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Company. A central issue in the case was whether the Government…

Investment Arbitration

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Several months ago, I drew attention on this blog to Uruguayan press reports which hinted that Uruguay might be prepared to compromise in the face of an arbitral claim filed by Phillip Morris International. (For background on the claim, see this Investment Arbitration Reporter account.) Following the flurry of Uruguayan press coverage, I spent a…

BIT, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Not-for-profit organizations (NGO)

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In a recent post, Lisa Bench Nieuwveld raised an issue which has been discussed from time to time on this blog: the potential for not-for-profit activities to be protected under international investment treaties. There is no doubt that not-for-profit organizations face a barrage of abuse and mistreatment at the hands of host countries, and that…

Investment Arbitration

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A string of mainstream media reports are suggesting that Uruguay is looking to compromise with Philip Morris International in relation to a sensitive international arbitration. On Tuesday, The UK-based Guardian newspaper reported that Uruguay has promised to water down anti-smoking laws after pressure from the tobacco giant Philip Morris, prompting accusations of corporate bullying. More…

Annulment, BIT, ICSID Convention

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Earlier today, an ad-hoc annulment committee at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) completely annulled a 2007 arbitral award that had been rendered in favour of US energy company, Sempra Energy International. The striking development serves to nullify a US $128 Million (plus interest) award wherein a panel of ICSID arbitrators had…

Africa, Investment Arbitration

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I spent some time in Namibia and South Africa last December looking into the impact of bilateral investment treaties on land reform. I don’t do a lot of field trips, and my wife harboured some suspicion that this “research venture” was merely a tidy excuse to trade the New York winter for the Southern African…