On October 17 2008, the Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal, the highest court in the country, issued a major pro-arbitration decision (Number 1541/08). It involved Article 258 of the Venezuelan Constitution, which calls for arbitration to be promoted in Venezuela, and Article 22 of the 1999 Venezuelan Law for the Promotion and Protection of Foreign Investors, which refers to investment arbitration. For some the language in Article 22 does not make clear whether foreign investors who are not protected by a bilateral investment treaty may make claims against the Venezuelan Government through an ICSID arbitration proceeding.
The decision promotes national and international arbitration by validating arbitration agreements entered into by individuals, legal entities, including Venezuelan Government or government-owned entities, as well as those in oil and gas agreements; it validates the severability of arbitral clauses and the principle of kompetenz/kompetenz; it discards the use of Constitutional injunctions (amparos) to annul awards. However, although it validates investment arbitration, it concluded that Article 22, taken alone, does not provide consent to ICSID arbitration.
Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review]