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pursuant to Article 6(1)(a)–(c) of the Convention. ICSID Regulations and
Rules also comprise Rules of Procedure for Conciliation (“Conciliation
Rules”) and Rules of Procedure for Arbitration (“Arbitration Rules”).
The latest amendments to ICSID Regulations and Rules adopted by the
Administrative Council of the Centre entered into effect on April 10, 2006.
ICSID Jurisdiction
The Centre’s Jurisdiction is defined in Article 25(1) of the Convention
as follows:
“The jurisdiction of the Centre shall extend to any legal dispute
arising directly out of an investment, between a Contracting State
(or any constituent subdivision or agency of a Contracting State
designated to the Centre by that State) and a national of another
Contracting State, which the parties to the dispute consent in
writing to submit to the Centre.”
However, a legal entity established in the country of the contracting
state which is party to the dispute shall be treated as a foreign investor if
said legal entity is under the control of nationals of another contracting
state (clause (b) of Article 25(2)).
Additionally, the dispute should be a legal dispute arising from an
“investment”. However, the notion of “investment” is not defined in the
Convention; though contracting states do have the option to stipulate in
advance the class or classes of disputes they will and will not consider
submitting to the jurisdiction of the Centre (Article 25(4)). Disputes
arising from issues other than investment do not fall within the jurisdiction
of the Centre. Therefore, the nature of each dispute must be carefully
reviewed in order to determine whether or not it falls within the Centre’s
jurisdiction.
With regards to ICSID’s jurisdiction, a recent case known as “the
Libananco Case”, filed against the Republic of Turkey, should be
mentioned. This case is an important example of the issues examined
when determining if a dispute falls within ICSID’s jurisdiction. In this
case, Libananco (Libananco Holdings Co. Limited), a Cypriot company,
filed a lawsuit against the Republic of Turkey before ICSID, citing the