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El Paso v. Argentina

Type of decisionDecision on Jurisdiction
Date of decision27 April 2006
Tribunal
Lucius Caflisch (President)
Brigitte Stern
Piero Bernardini
Legal instrumentBIT between Argentina and USA (1991)
Related decision(s)Award, 31 October 2011
Further information

Statements from this decision

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Decisions of other tribunals are not sources of law and are not legally binding upon another tribunal
Terms should not be interpreted broadly or narrowly, but according to their plain meaning
It is necessary to distinguish the state as a merchant from the state as a sovereign; thus, the umbrella clause in the US-Argentina BIT does not cover breaches of commercial contracts, but additional investment protections contractually agreed by the state as a sovereign
A state's consent to arbitration is expressed in the IIT
At the jurisdictional stage, a tribunal must establish whether the facts alleged by the claimant, if established, are capable of coming within those provisions of the IIT which the claimant has invoked
A state's consent to arbitration is expressed in the IIT
There is no rule of continuous ownership of the investment, i.e. for ICSID jurisdiction it does not matter whether the investment belongs to the investor over the course of the proceedings
The nature of a dispute must be determined on objective grounds
A dispute is a disagreement on a point of law or fact, a conflict of legal views or interest between parties; it must relate to clearly identified issues between the parties
A dispute of contractual nature can still qualify as a legal dispute within the meaning of Article 25 ICSID Convention
A legal dispute is a dispute requiring the application of rules of law and calling for legal solutions
Although a tribunal does not have jurisdiction over measures of general state policy, it has jurisdiction to examine specific measures of that policy if they have a direct bearing on the investment

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