In this NAFTA case, Claimants included Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd., a Canadian corporation involved in the manufacture and sale of tobacco products, Messrs. Jerry Montour and Kenneth Hill (Canadian nationals) and Mr. Arthur Montour, Jr., of Seneca Nations Territory, Perrysburg, New York. The Claimants filed arbitration claims against several States of the USA […]
VANNESSA VENTURES LTD. V. THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA (ICSID CASE NO ARB (AF)/04/6) – AWARD 16 January 2013
On 16 January 2013, an Arbitral Tribunal rendered an award dismissing all claims on the merits of the Canadian company Vanessa Ventures Ltd in relation to its investment in a mining project in Venezuela, under a bilateral investment treaty between Canada and Venezuela. At the beginning of the 1990’s, Placer Dome Inc (“PDI”) had contracted […]
Transparency in Investor-State Arbitration: The Mauritius Convention
For many years, critics have complained that there was not enough transparency in investor-State arbitration. Last week, Canada made headlines by becoming only the second State to ratify the 2015 United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty Based Investor-State Arbitration (the Mauritius Convention). The Convention confirms and extends the applicability of the 2014 UNCITRAL Rules […]
Time Limits to Initiate an Investment Arbitration
The initiation of arbitration proceedings on the basis of investment protection treaties may be subject to time limitations (ratione temporis limitations). The most common types of time limits are the provisions establishing cooling-off periods that may require claimants to wait and attempt to solve the dispute amicably before they can bring a claim. Less common […]
Investment Disputes: The Role of Third Party Funders
The Role of Third Party Funders in Investment Disputes In investment disputes, when the claimant decides to pull the trigger and bring forward, one can wonder what his options are to finance the arbitral proceedings. Claimants most often do not have much capital left and are in a distressed financial situation but their claims have […]