Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T20:05:57.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Biwater Gauff (Tanzania) Ltd v. United Republic of Tanzania

ICSID (Arbitration Tribunal).  24 July 2008 ; 18 July 2008 ; 02 February 2007 ; 29 September 2006 .

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2021

Get access

Abstract

Procedure — Provisional measures — Confidentiality — ICSID Convention, Article 47 — ICSID Arbitration Rule 39(1) — Whether confidentiality measures were needed to ensure orderly disposition and procedural integrity of the arbitration — Whether the parties may engage in general public discussion — Whether the parties may apply for restrictions to be lifted

Procedure — Amicus curiae — ICSID Arbitration Rule 37(2) — Public interest — Whether there was a public interest in the arbitration — Whether the non-parties’ proposed submission had reasonable potential to assist the tribunal in determining a legal or factual matter by bringing a perspective different from the parties to the dispute — Whether the non-parties would address a matter within the scope of the dispute — Whether the non-party had a significant interest in the proceeding — Whether the non-party submission would disrupt the proceedings or unfairly burden or prejudice either party to the dispute — Whether non-parties should be granted access to key arbitral documents — Whether non-parties should be permitted to attend oral hearings

Jurisdiction — Investment — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Interpretation — Salini test — Whether the elements of the Salini test were mandatory legal requirements — Whether the BIT contained a broad and flexible definition of investment

Jurisdiction — Consent — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Corporate formalities — Whether the claimant was barred from proceeding with the arbitration in the absence of proof of a formal resolution approving the arbitration

Jurisdiction — Municipal law — Consent — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Whether a tribunal may exercise jurisdiction over claims arising under domestic law calling for parties to agree an acceptable dispute resolution mechanism, but where no agreement had been reached

Jurisdiction — Municipal law — Consent — ICSID Convention, Article 25 — Whether a State’s consent to ICSID arbitration in a BIT implied consent to ICSID arbitration for claims arising under domestic law

Jurisdiction — Cooling-off period — Whether a claimant’s failure to strictly observe a BIT’s six-month cooling-off period was a bar to jurisdiction

Expropriation — Contract — Cumulative acts — Public purpose — Economic loss — Whether a party’s interest in a lease contract was an asset capable of being expropriated — Whether a State’s breach of contractual rights was relevant to the determination of expropriation claims under a BIT — Whether the cumulative effects of multiple acts can constitute an expropriation — Whether typically commercial activities can form the basis for a claim of expropriation when carried out by the State or its agencies — Whether economic loss was relevant to the question of a State’s liability for interference with an investor’s rights

Fair and equitable treatment — Expropriation — Whether conduct constituting expropriation necessarily constituted a violation of the standard of fair and equitable treatment

Fair and equitable treatment — Legitimate expectation — Whether the appointment of a non-independent regulator in violation of a legitimate expectation that regulators would be independent violated the standard of fair and equitable treatment where the breach had no negative impact on the investment

Fair and equitable treatment — Contract — State-owned entity — Change of circumstances — Whether the State’s failure to ensure that government agencies paid their water bills could be distinguished from a commercial actor’s failure to pay bills and constituted a breach of the standard of fair and equitable treatment — Whether a State-owned entity had an obligation to renegotiate contracts based on changed circumstances — What facts a claimant must prove to demonstrate change of circumstances

Arbitrary or discriminatory measures — Reasonableness — Whether the requirement that States must not impair investments through unreasonable or discriminatory measures implied the same reasonableness standard as fair and equitable treatment

Arbitrary or discriminatory measures — Political motivations — Whether public statements, withdrawal of tax exemptions and seizure of property were arbitrary and unreasonable when motivated by political considerations

Full protection and security — Physical security — Commercial and legal security — Whether the standard of full protection and security applied only to physical security or extended to commercial and legal security

Free transfer — Availability of funds — Whether a State’s actions that destroyed the value of an investment, thereby depriving an investor of funds, constituted a violation of the protection of free transfer of funds

Remedies — Damages — Whether a State caused an investor’s damages where the value of the investment was already in jeopardy prior to the challenged acts

Costs — Whether costs should be awarded to a claimant who prevailed on the merits but was unable to prove damages resulting from the challenged State conduct

Type
Case Report
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)