Maffezini v Spain
ICSID · Investment (ICSID and treaty) · Spain · 25 January 2000
Why it matters
Emilio Agustín Maffezini v. Kingdom of Spain, an investment-treaty arbitration administered by ICSID (case no. ARB/97/7), in which a foreign investor brought claims against a state under an investment treaty. In the outcome, jurisdiction was upheld, the tribunal allowing the investor to import a more favourable procedure through the most-favoured-nation clause. For a student, it is a worked example of investor-state dispute settlement: how an ICSID tribunal weighs a state's right to regulate against the treaty protections owed to foreign investors.
Summary
Emilio Agustín Maffezini v. Kingdom of Spain: an ICSID award (ARB/97/7). Jurisdiction upheld via the most-favoured-nation clause. The tribunal's full reasoning is set out in the original.
The detail
Parties: Emilio Agustín Maffezini v. Kingdom of Spain
Case number: ICSID Case No. ARB/97/7
Outcome: Jurisdiction upheld: the most-favoured-nation clause let the investor borrow a friendlier procedure from another treaty.
Applicable law: Argentina-Spain BIT; Chile-Spain BIT (borrowed via the MFN clause); ICSID Convention.
Issues in play: Does a promise to treat investors no worse than those of any other country cover only substantive rights, or procedure too, like how long you must wait before arbitrating?
Read the full decision at italaw ↗
Locus Standi links to the source decision and publishes its own plain-language summary. It does not reproduce the text of the award.