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 […]
BG GROUP PLC. V. REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA – CASE NO. U.S. 12-138 (2014) – U.S. SUPREME COURT
In this dispute, the Claimant was part of a consortium owning majority shares in MetroGas, for the distribution of natural gas in Buenos Aires. Before the 2001 financial crisis, Argentinean law provided that gas tariffs were calculated in US dollars for profitable returns. However, the crisis led to emergency measures, one of which implemented a […]
The Presumption of Separability in International Arbitration
The presumption of separability in international arbitration means that the validity of an international arbitration agreement is separate and analyzed independently from the rest of a contract. It may be the case that only the arbitration agreement itself is valid while the rest of the contract is not, or vice versa. This presumption is recognized […]
Denial of Justice in Investment Arbitration – Claims Commission, L.FAY H. NEER AND PAULINE NEER (USA) V. UNITED MEXICAN STATES
The famous case Neer v. United Mexican States set a standard of treatment with respect to denial of justice, fair and equitable treatment and the minimum standard of treatment in international law, which is still relevant and largely applied and relied upon today in investment arbitrations. This decision was rendered on 15 October 1926 by […]
Bias in International Arbitration
One of the most acclaimed aspects of international arbitration is its neutrality, but charges of bias in international arbitration are frequent. Arbitrators constituting an international tribunal must be independent and free from any bias. In case of doubt, any party can challenge the independence of an arbitrator after being appointed. Bias can be real, which […]