Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

English High Court: ICSID/ECT awards not assignable for enforcement; assignees must proceed via original claimants—divergence from US and Australian practice

Published on: 23 December 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Legal News

Article summary

Background

The dispute stems from one of many ICSID claims brought by investors in Spain’s renewables industry after adverse revisions to the nation’s electricity remuneration scheme in the early 2010s. In 2019, an ICSID (ECT) tribunal ordered approximately EUR 30 million to be paid in favour of the claimants. That award was subsequently upheld in ICSID annulment proceedings, and the claimants then moved to enforce it in multiple jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The initial award creditors later transferred their rights under the award to an investment vehicle, Blasket Renewable Investments LLC, which sought to be substituted for them in the English enforcement proceedings. Spain objected to the transfer, maintaining that awards of this kind are non-assignable under the ICSID Convention. Concurrently, Spain applied to set aside the original registration of the award on the basis of sovereign immunity. The High Court did not determine that issue, as Spain’s challenge has been stayed pending the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the intra-EU point in Antin v Spain (anticipated in the first half of 2026)...

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