{"id":6102,"date":"2012-09-28T14:49:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T18:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/?p=6102"},"modified":"2013-10-09T14:58:40","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T18:58:40","slug":"sovereign-debt-restructuring-and-mass-claims-arbitration-before-the-icsid-the-abaclat-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/2012\/09\/sovereign-debt-restructuring-and-mass-claims-arbitration-before-the-icsid-the-abaclat-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Sovereign Debt Restructuring and Mass Claims Arbitration before the ICSID, The <em>Abaclat<\/em> Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On August 4, 2011, an arbitral tribunal at the International Centre for\u00a0Settlement of Investment Disputes (\u201cthe ICSID\u201d) set new precedent for the\u00a0arbitration world. In Abaclat (and others) v. The Argentine Republic, the Tribunal\u00a0held that it had jurisdiction to hear claims brought by some 60,000\u00a0Italian nationals against the Republic of Argentina following Argentina\u2019s\u00a0default and later partial restructuring of its sovereign debt. This decision is\u00a0unprecedented in at least two respects. It is the first decision to hold that an\u00a0arbitral tribunal has the legal authority to hear claims that a sovereign\u2019s\u00a0default and debt restructuring may have breached a bilateral investment\u00a0treaty (\u201cBIT\u201d). Second, Abaclat is the first arbitral decision to hold that\u00a060,000 Claimants may join in one mass claims arbitration under the institutional\u00a0rules of the ICSID. If the Abaclat decision is followed in the future, it\u00a0will likely have significant impact on sovereign debt restructuring, the\u00a0drafting of arbitration clauses, and the scope of ICSID jurisdiction over mass\u00a0claims arbitrations.<\/p>\n<p>This commentary begins with a brief sketch of the circumstances leading\u00a0to the Abaclat arbitration and then discusses the claims at issue in the most\u00a0recent stage of the arbitration, the jurisdictional phase. The third section\u00a0discusses the Abaclat tribunal\u2019s (\u201cThe Tribunal\u201d) rulings on the jurisdictional\u00a0issues. Finally, the fourth section discusses the potential impact of the\u00a0case.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On August 4, 2011, an arbitral tribunal at ICSID set new precedent for the<br \/>\narbitration world, allowing a class of 60,000 Italian nationals to sue Argentina under a bilateral investment treaty for losses sustained during its debt restructuring. If followed, the decision will likely have significant impact on sovereign debt restructuring, the<br \/>\ndrafting of arbitration clauses, and the scope of ICSID jurisdiction over mass<br \/>\nclaims arbitrations. 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