If you want a view of where we could be headed, read the following:
In 2016, DIGOIL (a US oil and gas explorer) took the DRC govt to the International Court of Arbitration over the DRC's failure to honor two contracts for oil exploration and production, causing DIGOIL to incur significant losses and lose the opportunity to develop the oil fields (sound familiar?).
DIGOIL was vindicated, and awarded over $619 million in damages, including legal costs by the International Court of Arbitration in Paris (all good so far).
In 2019, the DRC govt appealed to the Paris Court of Appeal, which rejected the DRC's arguments and authorized enforcement of the arbitral award. DIGOIL then sought to confirm the award in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which entered a default judgment against the DRC and confirmed the arbitral award against them (three years later, still good).
Since the DRC is a signatory to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention, and a Contracting State to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention), it is bound by its rules. If the DRC decides to not cough up any future settlement amount, the appellant can apply to have the DRC’s local assets forfeited in order to meet the arbital award (the appellant can also utilise the legal system of any other nation where the DRC has assets in order to get restitution).
If this is not resolved this year, we potentially risk a decade of court cases and appeals. Happy days…
Cheers
F
In 2016, DIGOIL (a US oil and gas explorer) took the DRC govt to the International Court of Arbitration over the DRC's failure to honor two contracts for oil exploration and production, causing DIGOIL to incur significant losses and lose the opportunity to develop the oil fields (sound familiar?).
DIGOIL was vindicated, and awarded over $619 million in damages, including legal costs by the International Court of Arbitration in Paris (all good so far).
In 2019, the DRC govt appealed to the Paris Court of Appeal, which rejected the DRC's arguments and authorized enforcement of the arbitral award. DIGOIL then sought to confirm the award in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which entered a default judgment against the DRC and confirmed the arbitral award against them (three years later, still good).
Since the DRC is a signatory to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention, and a Contracting State to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention), it is bound by its rules. If the DRC decides to not cough up any future settlement amount, the appellant can apply to have the DRC’s local assets forfeited in order to meet the arbital award (the appellant can also utilise the legal system of any other nation where the DRC has assets in order to get restitution).
If this is not resolved this year, we potentially risk a decade of court cases and appeals. Happy days…
Cheers
F