Graham Dunning QC, acting on behalf of Venezuela, recently led Christopher Harris of 3VB, in proceedings brought to enforce an award issued under the Venezuela/Canada BIT. He was instructed by Kamal Shah and Richard Garcia of Stephenson Harwood. The hearing raised (inter alia) issues as to (a) the meaning of “investor” under the BIT, focussing on the words “who makes the investment” in the treaty definition, and (b) the applicability to award enforcement proceedings of s.12 of the State Immunity Act 1978, which prescribes the method by which court proceedings are to be served on states. The Commercial Court granted permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on both issues. The full judgment dealing with all issues is available by clicking on the link below.
Gold Reserve v The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
