For an investor, a State, or an in-house legal team facing its first investment dispute, ICSID arbitration can appear unusually technical. It is not simply commercial arbitration administered by a familiar institution. What makes ICSID arbitration different is its treaty foundation, its particular jurisdictional requirements, its relative independence from national courts, and its self-contained system […]
LSG Building Solutions v. Romania: Annulment Is Not an Appeal
On 18 February 2026, an ad hoc committee constituted under the ICSID Convention (the “Committee”) unanimously dismissed Romania’s application for annulment of the Award rendered in an arbitration brought by LSG Building Solutions GmbH and nine other claimants (the “Claimants”). Annulment is a limited form of review for specific fundamental defects. It is not an […]
Moral Damages in Investor-State Arbitration after Emergofin
In Emergofin B.V. and Velbay Holdings Ltd. v. Ukraine, the Tribunal rejected the claim for moral damages from the outset. It did not treat moral damages as only a question of evidence or valuation; the Tribunal went further and held that the claim fell outside its jurisdiction or, alternatively, was inadmissible.[1] The Award incorporates the […]
State Immunity and ICSID Awards: The UK Supreme Court Joins International Consensus on Enforcement
On 4 March 2026, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the “Supreme Court”) held in Kingdom of Spain v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.À.R.L. and Republic of Zimbabwe v Border Timbers Ltd that Spain and Zimbabwe (the “States”) could not invoke state immunity to resist the registration in England of ICSID awards rendered against them. The […]
Frivolous Claims in Arbitration: ICSID Rule 41(5) and Rule 41
If a Claimant submits a request for arbitration to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), according to Article 36(3) of the ICSID Convention, its request will be registered, and the case will proceed unless the Secretary-General finds, on the basis of the information contained in the request, that the dispute is manifestly […]