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Article 20 - Immunity from Legal Process

from CHAPTER I - International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2010

Christoph H. Schreuer
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
Loretta Malintoppi
Affiliation:
Eversheds LLP
August Reinisch
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
Anthony Sinclair
Affiliation:
Allen & Overy LLP, London
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Summary

All drafts of the Convention provided for the Centre's immunity from all legal process (History, Vol. I, pp. 92, 94). It was explained that the immunity of other international organizations served as a model and that the slightly different situation of the World Bank was due to the Bank's international borrowing activities (History, Vol. II, pp. 147, 391, 491, 741).

Because of the Centre's broad jurisdictional immunity any lawsuits by disappointed parties to ICSID arbitration are ineffective. This may have been the reason why an unsuccessful claimant in an ICSID case tried to sue the World Bank which does not enjoy an equally broad immunity from legal process (see Art. 18, para. 6).

The possibility of a waiver of the Centre's immunity was added to the text after a brief discussion (History, Vol. II, pp. 724, 741). There was a formal declaration to the effect that the Centre would not invoke its immunity in the case of counterclaims directly connected with the principal claim in proceedings instituted by the Centre (at pp. 741, 748, 935).

Art. 20 is analogous to Sec. 2 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations and Sec. 4 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies.

Type
Chapter
Information
The ICSID Convention
A Commentary
, pp. 61
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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