Can a dispute settlement system preserve its legitimacy if it structurally enables one party to assert claims while limiting the other’s ability to respond in kind? The UNCITRAL Working Group III (…
For decades, modern international investment law and arbitration have provided both the procedural mechanisms and substantive grounds for States to advance counterclaims in such proceedings. Coupled…
On January 20, 2022, ICSID submitted its amended rules to the Administrative Council for a vote, marking the end of the five-year-old process of modernizing the ICSID Rules. ICSID members are…
This post deals with the conceptual underpinnings and theoretical justification for the practice of counterclaims in investment arbitration. First, it is important to delineate this post from an…
The discussion within UNCITRAL Working Group III (WG III) on counterclaims has still remained, to a certain extent, deadlocked, as opposed to discussions on other topics under the table. As a result,…
On 12 March 2021, a tribunal issued an award in the case of Naturgy v. Colombia (ICSID Case No. UNCT/18/1) under the Colombia-Spain BIT (2005) (the “BIT”). The decision is the first in a wave of four…
Calls for investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS”) reform have persisted for some time (see blog coverage here). Competing calls for retaining the status quo, modifying the system, or abandoning…
A cursory reading of the mandate of Working Group III reveals that the discussion at UNCITRAL of ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) reform focuses only on procedural aspects of dispute…
After 11 years and more than US$ 89 million in costs, an international tribunal rendered a final decision awarding damages in the Perenco v. Ecuador saga. We discuss below the background of the case…
