On February 23, 2019, Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Colombia and gave Colombian diplomats twenty-four hours to leave the country. Four years later, on February 3, 2023, Colombia and Venezuela signed an unprecedented bilateral investment treaty (BIT) that evidences the marked improvement in their relations since the election of President Gustavo Petro in June 2022. … Read more

On 18 May 2022, an arbitral tribunal rendered its award in BSG Resources Limited (in Administration), BSG Resources (Guinea) Limited, BSG Resources (Guinea) Sàrl v Republic of Guinea (ICSID Case No. ARB/14/22) in favour of the Republic of Guinea (“Guinea“). Notably, in awarding costs, the tribunal treated as recoverable Guinea’s success fees under a private … Read more

On 4 August 2022, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) released its latest biannual caseload statistics for FY2022 (available here). The report also captures trends of ICSID cases over a longer period since 1972. In this blogpost, we have summarised the key highlights of the report. Read more

On 21 March 2022, the member states of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) approved wide-ranging amendments to the ICSID Regulations and Rules, which will come into effect on 1 July 2022. The approved amendments are the product of a rule amendment project which commenced in October 2016, pursuant to which … Read more

On June 15, 2021, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID“) Secretariat published its Fifth Working Paper on Proposals for Amendment of the ICSID Rules (“WP5“), featuring the proposals for amended ICSID rules on arbitration. The proposals build upon the suggested amended rules in Working Paper 4 (“WP4“), and address issues such as … Read more

On May 12, 2021, Canada published its new Model Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (the “New Model BIT”), revising the 2004 Model Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (the “2004 Model BIT”). The New Model BIT modernizes Canada’s framework and brings a few interesting innovations in the Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”) world. … Read more

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) has released case statistics for 2020 (available here) showing a record number of new cases. While the figures confirm that the Covid-19 pandemic has not so far significantly affected the nature of those disputes, other changes – such as a shift to virtual hearings – are … Read more

In the recent decision of Koza Ltd & Mr Ipek v Koza Altin Isletmeleri AS [2020] EWCA Civ 1018, the English Court of Appeal (“Court”) by a 2-1 majority has upheld an injunction granted by the English High Court earlier this year, restraining Koza Ltd (“Koza”), a UK-based company, from providing funding for an ICSID … Read more