Relevance of contractual arbitration findings in ICSID arbitration

In Helnan International Hotels A/S v The Arab Republic of Egypt (ICSID Case No ARB/05/19) an ICSID tribunal considered whether a claim before it, pursuant to the Denmark - Egypt BIT, should be considered res judicata, on the basis that an award had already been rendered by a Cairo arbitration tribunal appointed under the terms of an underlying contract between the parties.

Whilst upholding the admissibility of the claim before it, the tribunal did, however, acknowledge that the Cairo award was final and binding in respect of the contractual dispute between the parties.The ICSID tribunal would only deal with matters of a truly international nature and, therefore, in terms of the contractual dispute, the Cairo arbitration award would have res judicata effect in respect of the "Egyptian legal order", that is, in so far as the award related to the interpretation of the contract. In terms of international law, it found that Egypt was not in breach of the BIT.