World Duty Free v Kenya
ICSID · Investment (ICSID and treaty) · Kenya · 4 October 2006
Why it matters
World Duty Free Company Limited v. Republic of Kenya, an investment-treaty arbitration administered by ICSID (case no. ARB/00/7), in which a foreign investor brought claims against a state under an investment treaty. In the outcome, Award rendered on October 4, 2006. 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
World Duty Free Company Limited v. Republic of Kenya: an ICSID award (ARB/00/7). In the outcome, Award rendered on October 4, 2006. The tribunal's full reasoning is set out in the original.
The detail
Parties: World Duty Free Company Limited v. Republic of Kenya
Case number: ICSID Case No. ARB/00/7
Outcome: All claims dismissed: a contract obtained by bribing the head of state cannot be enforced.
Applicable law: Contract with an ICSID clause, governed by Kenyan and English law; international public policy.
Issues in play: A signed, long-performed contract against the rule that courts and tribunals will not lend their power to deals procured by corruption. Could Kenya rely on a bribe paid to its own former President to escape the contract?
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.