Frivolous Claims In Arbitration: ICSID Rule 41(5) And Rule 41

If a Claimant submits a request for arbitration to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), according to Article 36(3) of the ICSID Convention, its request will be registered, and the case will proceed unless the Secretary-General finds, on the basis of the information contained in the request, that the dispute is manifestly outside the jurisdiction of ICSID,¹ i.e., the dispute is not between a Contracting State and a national of another Contracting State, the dispute does not arise directly out of an investment, or the parties have not consented in writing to submit the dispute to ICSID.²

Imagine that a claimant submits a request for arbitration to ICSID, claiming that the fictional state of Wakanda has expropriated his investment. Obviously, this claim is manifestly outside the jurisdiction of ICSID under Article 36(3) (given that Wakanda is not real and thus not a signatory of the ICSID Convention), and the Secretary-General will