brought under the dominican republic - central america - ita
brought under the dominican republic - central america - ita
brought under the dominican republic - central america - ita
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5.42. The Tribunal also finds no merit in <strong>the</strong> Respondent‟s argument that if Article 15<br />
constituted consent, <strong>the</strong> Claimant‟s claims were precluded for failing to initiate conciliation<br />
before arbitration. The conjunction “and” in Article 15 of <strong>the</strong> Investment<br />
Law can only mean that both dispute settlement mechanisms provided by <strong>the</strong> ICSID<br />
Convention are available to <strong>the</strong> Claimant. Once consent has been given by <strong>the</strong> Respondent<br />
(as it is in <strong>the</strong> form of Article 15), it is for <strong>the</strong> party instituting <strong>the</strong> proceedings<br />
to choose between conciliation and arbitration <strong>under</strong> <strong>the</strong> ICSID Convention. 194<br />
5.43. With regard to <strong>the</strong> Respondent‟s submission that <strong>the</strong> Investment Law is not applicable<br />
to <strong>the</strong> Claimant because of its lack of any investments in El Salvador, <strong>the</strong> Tribunal<br />
considers that <strong>the</strong> Claimant´s nationality (and subsequent change of nationality)<br />
is irrelevant for <strong>the</strong> purpose of it qualifying as a “foreign investor” <strong>under</strong> <strong>the</strong> Investment<br />
Law. 195 The Claimant was registered as a “foreign investor” for <strong>the</strong> purposes<br />
of <strong>the</strong> Investment Law from 2005; 196 it was successively a Cayman Island<br />
company prior to 13 December 2007 and a US company <strong>the</strong>reafter; and <strong>the</strong> Claimant,<br />
as such, could have invoked Article 15 of <strong>the</strong> Investment Law by virtue of <strong>the</strong><br />
respective ratifications of <strong>the</strong> ICSID Convention by <strong>the</strong> United Kingdom and <strong>the</strong><br />
USA, which (in <strong>the</strong> case of <strong>the</strong> United Kingdom) extended to <strong>the</strong> Cayman Islands.<br />
5.44. The Respondent‟s next submission raises <strong>the</strong> question of <strong>the</strong> Claimant‟s actual investments<br />
in El Salvador. The definition of “a foreign investor” contained in <strong>the</strong> Investment<br />
Law is broad; and, as confirmation of this interpretation, <strong>the</strong> Tribunal notes<br />
that register of <strong>the</strong> Respondent‟s Ministry of Economy shows that <strong>the</strong> Salvadoran<br />
194<br />
195<br />
196<br />
SPP v. Egypt, supra note 180, § 102, R. Dolzer and C. Schreuer, Principles of International Investment<br />
Law, at page 221 (2008).<br />
Article 2 (d) of <strong>the</strong> Investment Law provides <strong>the</strong> following definition “Inversionista Extranjero: Las<br />
personas naturales y jurídicas extranjeras y los salvadoreños radicados en el exterior por más de un año<br />
ininterrumpido, que realicen inversiones en el país” (“Foreign Investor: The foreign natural and legal<br />
persons and <strong>the</strong> Salvadoran nationals established abroad for more than one ininterrupted year that make<br />
investments in <strong>the</strong> country”).<br />
To this respect, Article 17 of <strong>the</strong> Investment Law provides that “Los inversionistas extranjeros deberán<br />
registrar sus inversiones en la ONI, quien emitirá una Credencial la cual le otorgará a su titular la calidad<br />
de inversionista extranjero, con expresión de la inversión registrada” (Foreign investors shall register <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
investments before ONI, who will issue a credential that will provide to its bearer <strong>the</strong> quality of foreign<br />
investor, expressing <strong>the</strong> foreign investment”. See MINEC Resolution No. 288-R (21 June 2005), C-36 and<br />
MINEC Resolutions No. 368-MR (30 July 2008) and No. 387 MR (13 August 2008), C-12.<br />
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