Court of Cassation finds that a BIT's limitation period relates to admissibility, not jurisdiction
Introduction France's top court has reinstated a $1.58 billion arbitration award rendered in investment treaty proceedings between Canadian gold miner Rusoro and Venezuela. In its 31 March 2021 decision,(1) the Court of Cassation accepted Rusoro's argument that the limitation period for bringing a claim under the Canada-Venezuela Bilateral Investment Treaty (the Canada-Venezuela BIT) was a question of admissibility and not of the tribunal's jurisdiction to hear the dispute. Accordingly, the Court of Cassation quashed the Paris Court of Appeal's previous ruling that had reached the opposite co...