Khan Resources Inc., Khan Resources B.V. et CAUC Holding Company Ltd. c. Le gouvernement de Mongolie et MonAtom LLC, Affaire CPA n° 2011-09
William Ralph Clayton, William Richard Clayton, Douglas Clayton, Daniel Clayton et Bilcon of Delaware Inc. c. le Gouvernement du Canada, CNUDCI
In July 2013, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted a package of rules aiming to ensure transparency in investor-State arbitration, ratifying the work done by delegations to UNCITRAL—comprised of 55 Member States, additional observer States and observer organizations—over the course of nearly three years of negotiations. With the adoption of the new rules, there is now a carefully negotiated and widely approved template that can serve as a model for how to conduct investor-State arbitrations transparently.
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.
US court vacates award against Argentina BG Group Plc v. Argentina Lise Johnson A US appellate court has vacated an award against Argentina in a decision that may give investors pause before attempting to bypass treaty provisions requiring that they first pursue their claims in the host state’s courts. The long course of the dispute […]
Negotiations over transparency in investor-state arbitrations have reached a critical juncture heading into an October 2012 meeting in Vienna. During the last meeting in February 2012, a large number of countries, developed and developing, strongly supported options to ensure transparency in investor-state disputes that are settled under the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission […]
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 forum for the settlement of investment disputes signals these countries’ apparent loss of faith in the system and raises questions about the Convention’s fitness for […]
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. ARB/07/5 Damon Vis-Dunbar Professor Georges Abi-Saab has delivered a sharply worded dissent against a decision that granted jurisdiction to an ICSID case involving tens of […]
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 cigarette branding breach the Hong Kong-Australia bilateral investment treaty. The announcement arrived on the same day that the Australian Parliament passed legislation that bans most […]
Working group moves slowly on agreement for transparency in UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules A working group of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) met from 7-11 February 2011 in New York to discuss public access to information about disputes between investors and states under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. The meeting marked the second […]
European Union institutions consider the EU’s future international investment policy Debate on the future of the European Union’s international investment policy is heating up as EU institutions weigh in with their recommendations. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, the EU received exclusive competence over foreign direct investment, which […]
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, DC, and Argentine Delegate to the UNCITRAL Working Group II, explains why greater openness would benefit the investment arbitration system. Some preliminary considerations Working Group […]
By Fernando Cabrera Diaz May 11, 2010 An ad hoc tribunal under UNCTIRAL Rules has awarded German investor Walter Bau AG more than 30 million Euros in its claim against Thailand over a tollway concession gone sour. The tribunal found that the failure of Thai authorities to approve toll hikes as contemplated in the concession […]
By Fernando Cabrera Diaz April 8, 2010 An international tribunal has found Ecuador in breach of the Ecuador-United States BIT for the failure of its courts to reach a timely resolution in seven breach-of-contract lawsuits filed by Texaco Petroleum in the early 90s. The tribunal awarded Chevron Corporation, who bought Texaco in 2001, almost US$700 […]
By Fernando Cabrera Diaz March 11, 2010 Chevron and Ecuadorian citizens are in U.S. court in the latest chapter of a 16 year battle over environmental damage in Lago Agrio allegedly caused by Texaco Petroleum (TexPet), which Chevron acquired in 2001. In January of this year, a group of Ecuadorian plaintiffs which is suing the […]
By Elizabeth Whitsitt February 14, 2010 A notice of dispute forwarded to Barbados some five months ago by Mr. Peter Allard, Canadian owner of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, contends that the Government of Barbados has violated its international obligations by refusing to enforce its environmental laws. Located on the south coast of Barbados, Graeme […]
By Elizabeth Whitsitt January 13, 2010 Swiss-based firm Romak S.A. has lost a protracted dispute against the Republic of Uzbekistan regarding alleged non-payment for wheat shipments to the country during the mid-1990s. On November 26, 2009 an arbitral tribunal composed of Fernando Mantilla-Serrano, Nicolas Molfessis and Noah Rubins dismissed Romak’s claims against the Republic of […]
By Elizabeth Whitsitt January 13, 2010 Later this month UK-based firm, ICS Inspection and Control Services Limited (ICS), is expected to appoint another arbitrator in its dispute against the Argentine Republic which began earlier this summer. On July 28, 2009 in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, ICS appointed Mr. Stanimir A. Alexandrov as its […]
By Elizabeth Whitsitt December 6, 2009 Mr. J. Christopher Thomas Q.C. has resigned from his appointment as an arbitrator in a Chapter 11 NAFTA dispute initiated by US investor Vito G. Gallo against the Canadian government. Canada’s nominee to the tribunal resigned on October 21, 2009, one week after ICSID Deputy Secretary-General, Nassib G. Ziade, […]
By Damon Vis-Dunbar 2 October 2009 Correction: The original headline in this article stated that Chevron Corporation alleges a denial of justice on the part of Ecuador. Chevron explains that this is incorrect. While Chevron claims that Ecuador « abuses the criminal justice system », its notice of arbitration does not assert a denial of justice. The world’s second […]
By Fernando Cabrera Diaz 15 July 2009 A new bilateral investment treaty between Venezuela and Russia provides consent to international arbitration for settling disputes pursuant to the treaty, despite President Chavez’s criticism of international investor-to-state arbitration. Article 9 of the Russia-Venezuela BIT, published in Venezuela’s Official Gazette on 2 June 2009, allows investors to elect […]
Por Elizabeth Whitsitt 2 de Marzo, 2009 En un laudo recientemente publicado, un tribunal constituido conforme a una solicitud de arbitraje bajo las reglas de arbitraje de la Comisión de Naciones Unidas para el Derecho Mercantil Internacional (CNUDMI) encontró culpable a la República Argentina por los daños infringidos a National Grid p.l.c. por un total […]
By Elizabeth Whitsitt 2 March 2009 In a recently published award, a tribunal convened pursuant to a request for arbitration under the arbitration rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) found the Argentine Republic liable to the British firm National Grid p.l.c. for damages totaling more than US$53 million. The dispute, […]
By Damon Vis-Dunbar 22 January 2009 The United Kingdom has formally declined to release a notice of arbitration delivered by an Indian citizen under the UK-India bilateral investment treaty, explaining that it would likely “prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and an international organisation; UNCITRAL.” UNCITRAL is a United Nations body responsible for international business […]
By Damon Vis-Dunbar 15 January 2009 A Canadian pharmaceutical company delivered a notice of arbitration to the United States government in December 2008 under NAFTA’s Chapter 11 on investment. The US$8 million claim is rooted in the complicated legislation that governs how generic medications can be introduced to the U.S. market. Apotex Inc., which claims […]
By Damon Vis-Dunbar 28 November 2008 An English court case reveals that an Indian citizen is quietly pursuing an investment-treaty claim against the United Kingdom under the India-UK bilateral investment treaty. Ashok Sancheti, a London-based lawyer of Indian nationality, brought the UK to arbitration in 2006 under the 1995 BIT. This is the only pending investment-treaty […]
By Fernando Diaz Cabrera 28 October 2008 Lawyers for the Dominican Republic have accused a subsidiary of the French financial services company Société Générale of breaking confidentiality rules in an ad-hoc arbitration when it issued a press release announcing that the tribunal had ruled in its favour by rejecting the Dominican Republic’s objections to jurisdiction. […]