Arbitration news round-up to 10 February 2016

In EDF International S.A., SAUR International S.A. and León Participaciones Argentinas S.A. v Argentine Republic (ICSID Case No. ARB/03/23), and ICSID ad hoc committee rejected an annulment application in its entirety. The decision includes a few interesting issues including the committee considering a first time challenge to one of the arbitrators, which it accepted it had the power to do. We will provide further analysis shortly.

In ConocoPhillips Petrozuata B.V. and others v Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (ICSID Case no. ARB/07/30), an ICSID tribunal has, by a majority, rejected Venezuela’s request to reconsider its previous decision holding that it did not have the power to reconsider its Decision on Jurisdiction and the Merits. Professor Andreas Bucher, the arbitrator appointed for Venezuela by the Chairman of the Administrative Council, issued a dissenting opinion.

On 4 February 2016, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed in New Zealand by the 12 Pacific-rim countries. For background information on the TPP, see Legal update, Trans-Pacific Partnership text released.