International Construction Law Review
ICSID ARBITRATION AS AN OPTION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION DISPUTES
BART CEENAEME
LL B, LL M, M Sc
Senior Legal Counsel, Jan De Nul Group
*
1. INTRODUCTION
The majority of the disputes between a state and a foreign investor which are brought to arbitration are referred to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”). The dramatic increase in ICSID’s caseload since the mid-1990s has not escaped the attention of the international construction industry. Some key features of ICSID arbitration indeed make this form of international investment arbitration more effective than classical commercial arbitration. This paper aims to explore the circumstances in which a contractor may wish to refer a dispute arising out of an international construction contract to ICSID arbitration and the requirements which are to be met for such reference to be successful.
2. ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF ICSID ARBITRATION AND THE ROLE OF BITs
2.1 Essential features of ICSID arbitration
Arbitration under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (the “ICSID Convention”) is generally more effective than classical commercial arbitration because of two essential features of ICSID arbitration.†
* The author is currently also co-heading the Legal and Contracts Department of GUPC SA, a joint venture company which has been awarded the design-build contract for the Third Set of Locks project on the Panama Canal. The paper is based on a dissertation which was submitted towards the author’s M Sc degree in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College London, and the author wishes to acknowledge his gratitude to his supervisor, Mr John Marrin, QC. The author may be contacted at Bart.Ceenaeme@gmail.com.
† In this paper, references to paragraph numbers in decisions and awards are printed in square brackets.
Pt 2] ICSID Arbitration for International Construction Disputes
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