CMS Gas Transmission Co. v. Argentine Republic
Ad Hoc Committee of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
I.C.S.I.D. Case No. ARB/01/08 (Sept. 25, 2007)
An ICSID tribunal ordered Argentina (defendant) to pay CMS Gas Transmission Company (plaintiff) after Argentina invoked a necessity defense under Article XI of the U.S.-Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty; the tribunal treated that treaty provision as having the same meaning as the customary international law necessity doctrine codified in the ILC's Articles on State Responsibility. Argentina petitioned an ad hoc committee to annul the award, arguing the tribunal's conflation of the two standards was a manifest excess of its powers.
Whether, under the treaty establishing the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, award-review committees may only annul awards based on specific, limited criteria.