9. June 2020

Arbitration Newsletter Switzerland: Clorox vs. Venezuela – When is an Investment an Investment under the Spain-Venezuela BIT?

In recent years, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court has increasingly become engaged in BIT arbitration cases, particularly involving Russia, Poland, Vietnam and India, including a very detailed analysis of the terms “investment” and “investor” as used in the German-Indian BIT. All those actions for annulments were rejected by the Supreme Court. However, it was, of course, just a matter of time before the Supreme Court annulled an award rendered in a BIT arbitration with its seat in Switzerland. And here we are!

In a decision published on its website on 29 May 2020, the Supreme Court annulled the negative jurisdictional ruling by a Geneva-seated arbitral tribunal regarding an investment treaty claim by Clorox España S.L., Madrid brought against the República Bolivariana de Venezuela regarding alleged claims based on the Convention for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments concluded between Spain and Venezuela on 2 November 1995. Our newsletter covers this decision of the Supreme Court.