The Arbitration Tribunal rules the dispute between DP World PLC and the Kingdom of Belgium
The Antwerp Port Authority has taken note of the interim ruling by the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on the investment dispute between DP World PLC and the Kingdom of Belgium, according to the company's release.
The ruling is nuanced and does not yet definitively settle the investment dispute. On the one hand, the Arbitration Tribunal considers that the decision of the Antwerp Port Authority to repossess an (unused) part of the concession of Antwerp Gateway (subsidiary of DP World PLC) in 2014 constitutes what is known as a partial ‘expropriation’ (‘repossession of an investment’) of this concession agreement within the meaning of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between the Belgian Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An ‘expropriation’ is permitted provided that five cumulative conditions are met.