#icsid

Introducción El diseño industrial es una disciplina clave para el desarrollo económico, la innovación y la mejora de la calidad de vida. A nivel internacional, la promoción y regulación de esta actividad ha estado fuertemente ligada al trabajo del ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design), hoy conocido como World Design Organization (WDO). Este artículo explora la historia…

The record number of new arbitration cases registered with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in 2020 highlights the confidence that investors retain in resolving their disputes with states and state sponsored companies through arbitration, an expert has said.

According to ICSID, which is part of the World Bank and deals in international investment dispute resolution and conciliation, there were 58 new cases registered with it last year, up from the previous record high of 56 in 2018 and the 39 recorded in 2019. The number of cases registered with ICSID has typically been rising since the late 1990s.

The latest figures show a wide geographic spread of ICSID case participants. In 2020, the most common state parties involved in newly registered ICSID disputes were from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They featured in 28% of the 58 cases recorded.

The sector in which most new ICSID cases were registered was oil, gas and mining, accounting for 26% of the 58 in total, with 17% of all cases stemming from the construction sector. Bigelow-Nuttall said she expects the number of construction-related disputes to continue rising in 2021.

In 2020, 15% of cases concerned investment disputes in the electric power and other energy. Bigelow-Nuttall said that the continued growth of renewable energy, reflecting its importance to the global decarbonisation agenda, is likely to spur an increase in investor-state arbitrations in that area in the years ahead.

According to ICSID, 60% of new cases in 2020 were brought under bilateral investment treaties (BITs), with a considerable number brought against EU member states from both Eastern and Western Europe.

Proposed reforms to another international agreement, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), could likewise impact on the volume of ICSID arbitrations in future, she said. In 2020, 9% of ICSID disputes were brought under the ECT, but proposed changes to the ECT are under discussion and the CJEU is also expected to give an advisory opinion concerning an intra-EU ECT disputes in the coming months.

Reflecting on the statistics relating to arbitrator appointments by geographic region and by gender, as well as the fact that there had been a slight rise, to 23%, in the proportion of women arbitrators, conciliators and ad hoc committee members appointed to cases registered in 2020, Bigelow-Nuttall said there is "clearly still a lot of work to be done, particularly in the respect of both regional, racial and gender diversity, to broaden the pool of arbitrators hearing these disputes".

With the assistance of an international law firm, Pakistan filed a petition against the verdict within the given time and was able to secure a stay order on the case.

The provincial cabinet has also approved the law team which will lead the case in the ICSID.

"Pakistan had filed a petition against the verdict in November last year. As a result a stay order was ordered by the court, and it will now be heard in February 2020," Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said.