New Scholarship: The Rules, Practice, and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals
- By Chiara Giorgetti, White & Case LLP,
for White & Case
The Rules, Practice, and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012) has just shipped.
I am the (proud) editor and a contributor of the book and am delighted to have the opportunity to bring it to the attention of this group. I think it will be of special interest to arbitration practitioners.
The book examines the main existing international dispute resolution bodies in a systematic, comprehensive and accessible way.
To the extent possible, chapters are structured similarly, and each chapter explores a specific dispute resolution forum.
After a short introduction of the forum, each chapter provides essential information of the institution examin [...]
Investor-State Arbitration and Plain Packaging: The New ‘Anti-Tobacco Movement’ Has Begun
- By J. Martin Hunter, Essex Court Chambers,
for ITA
In February 2010, Philip Morris International (PMI) filed a request for arbitration under the ICSID Convention against the Republic of Uruguay. 1 The claim relates to two pieces of legislation enacted by Uruguay which require tobacco companies to comply with strict plain packaging measures. These regulations limit the use of registered tobacco trademarks, allowing the brand name of the tobacco product to be written in a standard font only. In addition, health warnings will be displayed on the package, which will leave tobacco corporations with no option but to sell cigarettes in generic packages.
PMI contends that the Uruguayan regulations violate several provisions of the Switzerland-Urugua [...]
The Unavoidability of Uncertainty: One Lesson from the Recent U.S. Court Ruling in Argentina v. BG Group
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. Some commentators urge a return to greater use of ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration, or arbitration before institutions other than ICSID, to avoid the perceived vagaries of the ICSID annulment process. Yet commentators often forget that these alternatives carry their own risks of uncertainty, inherent in the national court review process tha [...]
Mass claims and the distinction between jurisdiction and admissibility (Part II)
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 Dissent) raises a number of objections to the majority’s decision. Most importantly, it states that the Tribunal “faces two glaringly insuperable obstacles that prevent it from taking jurisdiction”. First, the investors’ security entitlements are not protected investments, in particular, because the investments were n [...]
Swiss Federal Supreme Court provides guidance on rules of State immunity applicable to enforcement of ICSID awards
and Sandrine Giroud, Lalive
In a decision issued on 23 November 2011, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court gave some welcome guidance on the rules of immunity applicable to the enforcement of ICSID awards in Switzerland (Decision 5A_681/2011 dated 23 November 2011 – The published decision is redacted but mentions the date of the ICSID award and the defendant State).
The Court rejected an appeal of the Geneva Debt Collection Office’s (the “DCO”) refusal to attach assets held in Geneva by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the name of Kyrgyzaeronavigatsia, a Kyrgyz State company. The applicant (probably the claimant in the underlying ICSID arbitration, Turkish company Sis [...]
Cargill – Another Chapter in the Legacy of Dallah
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 review for international arbitration awards and that such case would involve a non-English court looking to Dallah for instructive value. Earlier this month in the case of The United Mexican States v Cargill Incorporated, the Ontario Court of Appeal considered Dallah in determining whether to grant Mexico’s application to set aside an ICSID arbitration award granting an American [...]
