Suchergebnisse

There is an abundant literature on the subject of state contract awards, including matters concerning recognition and enforcement, and related issues of sovereign immunity. For the most part, however, the studies that have been published tend to focus on spectacular situations involving bitter and protracted litigation in the aftermath of such well-known awards as those between the SEEE and Yugoslavia, SPP and Egypt, and LIAMCO and Libya.

The decision of the United States Supreme Court in Republic of Argentina v. Weltover, Inc. is an invitation to reassess the impact of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) upon public debt litigation. In contrast with other activities of foreign states, which have been the object of extensive and continuing litigation, barely two dozen cases involving public debt disputes have been reported since the FSIA took effect. Whether this situation is attributable to the care with which transnational loan documents are usually drafted or to some other reasons, including possibly the contemporary tendency to rely on debt rescheduling as a means of remedying difficult situations, is an interesting matter of speculation. Whatever the explanation for the relatively limited number of public debt cases, Weltover can be expected to have a decisive impact upon future litigation.

In 1978 a French company (Pipeline) and the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) entered into a contract (governed by Iranian law) for the supply and erection of gas pipeline installations linking certain Iranian cities. Apparently not paid for its services, Pipeline brought an action in France against NIGC. NIGC's plea of immunity was denied by the Court of Appeal of Versailles, whose decision was reversed by the Court of Cassation.