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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 conclusion. The Court of Cassation s decision guides the future review of arbitral awards by the French courts and adds to the longstanding discussion in investment treaty arbitration about the distinction between the admissibility of a claim and the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal. By deciding that the issue of whether the claims were time barred was a question of admissibility ....
Introduction France is an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction with a positive attitude towards enforcement of international arbitral awards. The enactment of Decree 2011-48 of 13 January 2011, which reformed French arbitration law, reinforced this positive approach. One of the major innovations of Decree 2011-48 was Article 1526 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). Pursuant to said article, a motion to set aside an international arbitral award or an appeal against an order granting such award s enforcement ( exequatur) no longer leads to an automatic stay of execution of the international arbitral award. However, this innovation is accompanied by an important safeguard: if the international award s enforcement is likely to severely harm the rights of one of the parties, the first president of the court of appeal ruling in expedite proceedings or the pre-trial judge overseeing the case, once appointed, may stay or amend the award s enforcement (Article 1526(2)).(1) ....