Romak SA (Switzerland) v. Republic of Uzbekistan

ICSID Reports ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 255-278

255Applicable — Customary international law — Interpretation — Whether the BIT contained an agreement as to applicable law — Whether the VCLT was applicable where the BIT entered into force before the State’s accession to the VCLT — Whether the VCLT codified customary international lawInterpretation — Customary international law — VCLT, Article 31 — VCLT, Article 32 — Whether the list of investments under the BIT determined the existence of a protected investment — Whether the interpretation of the BIT should be guided by arbitral awards of other investment tribunalsJurisdiction — Investment — Interpretation — Salini test — Territoriality — Whether there was an objective meaning of investment — Whether the concept of investment differed depending on whether the investor resorted to ICSID or UNCITRAL arbitration — Whether the four elements of the Salini test were mandatory legal requirements — Whether the BIT contained further limits on the scope of protected investments regarding territorialityJurisdiction — Investment — Contract — Sale of goods — Duration — Risk — Whether one-off transactions relating to the sale of goods satisfied the criteria of contribution, duration and risk — Whether short-term projects were deprived of their status as investments solely by virtue of their limited duration — Whether there was a difference between pure commercial risk and investment riskJurisdiction — Investment — Arbitral award — Whether the embodiment or crystallisation of contractual rights in the form of an arbitral award transformed the underlying transaction into an investmentCosts — Costs follow the event — Whether costs should reflect the relative success and failure in the arbitration — Whether there was a justification to shift the arbitral costs against the losing party

ICSID Reports ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 279-302

279Jurisdiction — Foreign investor — Nationality — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Dual nationality — Effective nationality — Whether an effective nationality test must be read into Article 25 of the ICSID Convention — Whether the explicit exclusion from jurisdiction of dual nationals who held the nationality of the host State was the only jurisdictional bar related to a natural person’s nationality under the ICSID ConventionApplicable law — Customary international law — Diplomatic protection — Effective nationality — ICSID Convention, Article 27(1) — Whether the rules of customary international law applicable in the context of diplomatic protection applied to determine nationality in investor–State arbitrationJurisdiction — Investment — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Salini test — Legality — Whether the four elements of the Salini test must necessarily be met to determine the existence of an investment — Whether the three objective criteria of contribution, duration and risk were both necessary and sufficient to define an investment within the framework of the ICSID Convention — Whether the applicable BIT imposed further limits on protected investments — Whether the investment fell within the scope of the requirement of legality under municipal lawJurisdiction — Investment — Shares — Evidence — Burden of proof — Whether the share certificates were valid under the law of the host State — Whether the heavy burden of proof of alleged impropriety was met — Whether the claimant held legal title over the share certificates said to constitute the investmentEvidence — Burden of proof — Impropriety — Whether the burden of proof of any allegations of impropriety was particularly heavyCosts — Frivolous proceedings — ICSID Convention, Article 61(2) — ICSID Arbitration Rule 28 — Whether an arbitral tribunal had discretion in frivolous proceedings to allocate the arbitration costs and the legal fees and expenses between the parties by ordering the losing party to bear in full the costs of the arbitration and the entirety of the legal fees and expenses incurred by both parties


2021 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 387-413

387State immunity — Immunity from execution — Customary international law — United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, 2004 — Articles 19 and 21 — Whether property of a State central bank immune from measures of constraintArbitration — Post-Award enforcement — Attachment — Whether property of a State central bank immune from attachment in satisfaction of an arbitral award rendered against the State — The law of Sweden


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES R. CRAWFORD

AbstractThis article provides a reappraisal of the International Court of Justice's approach to jurisdiction and applicable law inNicaragua, 25 years later. In the first phase of the proceedings arising from the US support of the activities of the Contras against the Sandinista government, the Court robustly asserted its jurisdiction despite the US reliance on its multilateral treaty reservation and the subsequent attempted modification of its Optional Clause declaration. At the same time, the Court approached the related question of applicable law with a wide, if not effusive, reliance on multilateral customary international law operating conjunctively with treaty law. The Court's dismissal of negotiations as a procedural precondition for invoking its jurisdiction inNicaraguais contrasted with its recent findings inGeorgiav.Russia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-190
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Cataldi

This article analyzes the Enrica Lexie Arbitral Award, first of all, in relation to international law issues concerning the application of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The article then focuses on the question of the functional immunity of the two marines, from the point of view of the Tribunal’s assertion of its incidental jurisdiction to deal with the matter, as well as of the Tribunal’s affirmation of the existence of a customary international law rule applicable in the present case. Both conclusions appear unconvincing, also in light of the role of the two marines on board a merchant ship. In any case, the fact remains that the judgment has the merit of finally putting an end to a long-standing dispute, to the satisfaction of the two parties involved.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. Chimni

AbstractThe article offers an alternative account of the evolution, formation, and function of customary international law (CIL) from a third world perspective. It argues that there is an intimate link between the rise, consolidation, and expansion of capitalism in Europe since the nineteenth century and the development of CIL that is concealed by the supposed distinction between “formal” and “material” sources of CIL. In fact, both “traditional” and “modern” CIL sustain the short-term and systemic interests of global capitalism. It proposes a “postmodern” conception of CIL that would contribute to the global common good.


Author(s):  
Schabas William A

This chapter comments on Article 10 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 10 is a rare provision in that it has no title to suggest its content. It is not directed at the application and interpretation of the Rome Statute. Rather, it is intended to guide those who invoke the Rome Statute as an authoritative statement of customary international law, or of general international law. It insulates both the conventional and customary legal obligations of States from claims that these are in some way altered by adoption of the Rome Statute. Article 80 of the Statute has a similar purpose, although it is targeted specifically at capital punishment.


Significance Previously, the United States, like the rest of the international community, had held that the question of Jerusalem's status was an issue for final-status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. After taking East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, Israel declared the whole city as its “indivisible” capital; however, its settlements there are not recognised under international law. Impacts A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian issue will become even more unlikely. Trump's high-profile gesture will shore up the domestic position of the Israeli premier. Fears of Palestinian violence could put short-term pressure on Israel’s currency and stock market. Trump will cement his appeal to core supporters (further helped by the anger of ideological opponents).


2021 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 219-226

219State immunity — Jurisdictional immunity — Immunity of individual officials — Head of State immunity — Immunity ratione personae and immunity ratione materiae — Immunity ratione personae confined to Head of State and certain high-ranking officials — Immunity ratione materiae applicable only in respect of official acts — Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 — Vice-President of State accused of misappropriation of funds and money laundering by authorities of another State — Whether entitled to immunity — Immunity of diplomatic agents — State sovereignty — Customary international law — The law of France


AJIL Unbound ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 239-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Wuerth

AJIL Unbound is pleased to announce three commentators who will discuss the article by Pierre-Hugues Verdier and Erik Voeten entitled “Precedent, Compliance, and Change in Customary International Law: An Explanatory Theory.” The article argues that rational choice scholars have overlooked key characteristics of customary international law and that those characteristics undermine the enforcement of customary norms through decentralized punishment. Instead, Verdier and Voeten contend, states may comply with customary international law even if their short-term interests are to defect, because states know that their decision to defect generates precedent that undermines the norm as a whole. Our commentators on this article are, first, Professor Tim Meyer, from the University of Georgia, who maintains that Verdier and Voeten overstate the distinction between custom and treaties. Second, Professor Jens David Ohlin, from Cornell, asks what happens to custom when states cannot appeal to long-term interests. He argues that compliance in these “one-shot” scenarios can be understood partly by considering the formation of plans by states which may act rationally in carrying through on their obligations without re-evaluating their plans. Finally, Professor Alejandro Lorite Escorihuela, from the University of Quebec at Montreal, argues that the role of precedent is clear from both the doctrine and practice of customary international law, so that it is unclear what rational choice methodology is adding to our understanding of custom, a critique he buttresses in part through an examination of some of the examples discussed in the article.


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