Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

General Dynamics v Libya: English Commercial Court holds ‘wholly enforceable’ constitutes written consent waiving state execution immunity under s 13(3) State Immunity Act 1978

Published on: 15 April 2024

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

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Article summary

General Dynamics UK Ltd v The State of Libya [2024] EWHC 472 (Comm)

What are the practical implications of this case?

States and entities dealing with state parties should pay attention to the High Court’s ruling on what amounts to ‘written consent’ for the purposes of s 13(3) of the State Immunity Act 1978, which operates as an exception to the general immunity from execution. In this dispute, the court held that language by which the state agreed an arbitration award would be ‘wholly enforceable’ constituted such written consent. Pelling J confirmed that s 13(3) does not demand any special, particular or formulaic wording. He concluded that the parties’ objective was to allow an award under the contract to be enforced as if between commercial counterparties. As with all contractual drafting, the clearer the words used to capture the parties’ intentions, the better. Libya sought to rely on the contract’s failure to refer to s 13 of the 1978 Act, but the judge did not accept that argument, finding the wording sufficient to evince consent to enforcement notwithstanding state immunity. It was the substance of the wording, rather than any reference to the statute, that carried the day...

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