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ARTICLE · 29 SEPTEMBER 2026

No Substitutions Allowed: Courts Restrict Assignment Of ICSID And ECT Arbitral Awards

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The English Commercial Court has ruled that ICSID arbitral awards and Energy Charter Treaty claims cannot be assigned to third parties for enforcement purposes, creating uncertainty for investors and litigation funders. With permission to appeal granted and conflicting approaches in other jurisdictions, the decision raises important questions about the future of award enforcement and the secondary market for arbitral claims.

United KingdomLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Kamran Rehman
Kamran Rehman
Harriet Campbell
Harriet Campbell

Writing for the New Law Journal, Kamran Rehman and Harriet Campbell explore the English Commercial Court’s recent decision restricting assignment of ICSID arbitral awards, and its implications for investors, funders and others involved in the enforcement of investment treaty awards.

In Operafund Eco-Invest SICAV plc and another company v Kingdom of Spain [2025] EWHC 2874 (Comm), the court considered whether an arbitral award made under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) could be assigned to a third party for enforcement purposes. The court concluded that it could not.

The claimants had obtained a €29.3 million ICSID award against Spain and subsequently assigned their interests in the award to a third-party entity. That entity sought to be substituted as claimant in the English enforcement proceedings, but Spain opposed the application.

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