The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has released caseload statistics for the 2024 fiscal year. ICSID reports that a total of 58 ICSID cases were registered in 2024. The top three economic sectors involved in new cases are oil, gas and mining. There has been diversity and gender balance among ICSID appointments, individuals of 49 nationalities were represented among the 197 appointments made in the 2024 fiscal year, 11% of appointments involved individuals appointed for the first time to an ICSID case. Fifty percent of first-time appointees in 2024 involved nationals of low or middle income economies and 23% were women.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has reported that the World Bank received a written notice of denunciation of Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention) from the Republic of Honduras. The denunciation will take effect on 25 August 2024.

Arbitration analysis: Neil Newing, counsel at Signature Litigation LLP, explains why Spain’s series of energy reforms affecting the renewables sector led to investor-state arbitration and discusses a recent award issued against the EU Member State in a dispute brought by a Dutch investor.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has published the operative part of a decision of the ICSID tribunal on the claimants’ request for provisional measures in Uniper SE, Uniper Benelux Holding BV and Uniper Benelux NV v Kingdom of the Netherlands (ICSID Case No. ARB/21/22), with a full reasoned decision to follow. The tribunal dismissed the claimants’ request for a provisional measures recommendation that the respondent state withdraw court proceedings commenced in the German courts with the purpose of, inter alia, seeking a declaration as to EU law. The tribunal deferred for later consideration the question whether the respondent state’s initiation and continuation of the German proceedings amounted to a breach of Articles 26 and 41 of the ICSID Convention.

Arbitration analysis: An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal chaired by Luca Radicati di Brozolo issued its final award on liability in respect of claims (‘Claims’) brought by US trusts and corporations and individuals of US nationality (‘Claimants’), collectively the shareholders in Industria Oklahoma Nicaragua SA (‘ION’), a Nicaraguan company, against the Republic of Nicaragua (‘Nicaragua’), finding in favour of Nicaragua. The Claims (valued up to US$198m) arose in connection with the termination by Nicaragua of a concession contract with ION dated April 23, 2004 (the ‘Concession’ or ‘Contract’) for oil exploration and exploitation in a block in Nicaragua’s onshore Pacific region (the ‘Concession Area’). The Claims, which cited breaches of the 2006 Dominican Republic Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (‘CAFTA-DR’ or ‘Treaty’) and the ICSID Convention were dismissed by the tribunal. What is significant about this case is that in addition to contesting jurisdiction ratione materiae over the Claims and denying liability, Nicaragua also brought a counterclaim against the Claimants pursuant to Article 10 of the CAFTA-DR and Articles 25 and 46 of the ICSID Convention seeking compensation for damages caused by ION’s alleged breaches of applicable environmental obligations (the ‘Counterclaim’). The tribunal did not accept jurisdiction over the Counterclaim, because Nicaragua asserted no breach by the Claimants of environmental obligations incorporated in the Treaty. Written by Noor Kadhim, consultant at Gateley Legal.

Arbitration analysis: Alejandro Escobar, partner in public international law and arbitration at Baker Botts, explains the background to the tribunal’s award in Cervin Investissements SA and Rhone Investissements SA v Republic of Costa Rica, and considers its implications for investment treaty arbitration practitioners.

Law360: An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ad hoc Committee put an end to a more than 12-year-old dispute by ruling that Bolivia cannot escape an approximately $US48.6m arbitral award issued to a Chilean company, following a dispute over mining rights in the country's southern highlands.

Law360: Croatia recently claimed that it has secured a near-total victory in an arbitration over the alleged expropriation of agricultural land belonging to a meat processor, saying that while the tribunal found the country had violated international law, it awarded the investor only a fraction of the nearly €208m ($US242.8m) he had sought.

Law360: Canada and Mobil Investments Canada have settled a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) arbitration, administered by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), over mandatory research and development expenditures relating to the company’s investments in two oil fields off the country’s eastern coast.

Law360: Spain said it has won a first with two arbitral awards favoring the country where International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunals found they did not have the jurisdiction to hear a dispute under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) between a EU Member State and an EU investor.

Law360: International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) unchallenged arbitrators have issued a novel decision denying Albania's application to disqualify Charles Poncet, a Swiss arbitrator, from a revision proceeding relating to a €111m (US$116.8m) arbitral award against the state, disagreeing that the arbitral rules barred his reappointment.

Arbitration analysis: Law360, New York: An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal won't halt a criminal investigation into the authenticity of certain pertinent documents in Italba Corp's arbitration against Uruguay, which the Florida-based company filed early last year after a wireless spectrum license granted to a subsidiary was revoked.