The high water mark of an umbrella clause

• Main Author: CHAN, Darius
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Dispute Resolution and Arbitration
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3063
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In a recent award that arguably represents a high-water mark for the operation of an umbrella clause in ICSID jurisprudence thus far, a tribunal comprising Stanimir A. Alexandrov (as President), Donald Francis Donovan and Pablo Garcia Mexia held Paraguay liable to SGS Société Générale de Surveillance S.A. (“SGS”) for failing to pay for services rendered. This case is noteworthy for practitioners because it demonstrates how an investor can, in effect, have its claims arising out of an investment contract readily resolved before a treaty forum through the use of an umbrella clause in a bilateral investment treaty (“BIT”).