Region: Iraq

Iraq is to become the 168th signatory of the New York Convention after passing an accession law as part of its ongoing reconstruction programme after the US-led ousting of Saddam Hussein and the years of instability that have followed.

06 April 2021

An ICSID tribunal has dismissed a Kuwaiti investor’s US$664 million claim against Iraq over the alleged expropriation of a mobile phone operator in Kurdistan – a dispute that has spawned several other arbitrations and bribery allegations.

23 February 2021

A joint venture between French telecoms group Orange and Kuwaiti logistics group Agility has asked a US court to compel Dechert to produce documents concerning an alleged bribery scheme in Iraq for use in a US$1 billion ICC arbitration over its stake in a Kurdish mobile operator.

01 December 2020

A court in Washington, DC has refused to enforce an ICC award against an Iraqi state-owned oil company – ruling the entity was separate from the state and lacked commercial ties to the jurisdiction.

30 October 2020

UPDATED: French telecoms group Orange has filed an ICSID claim against Iraq over the alleged expropriation of its US$500 million investment in a Kurdistan-based mobile phone operator.

13 October 2020

A German company has filed a US$1 billion ICSID claim against Iraq over the alleged expropriation of its cement production business.

29 June 2020

A French court has refused to allow Iraq to revive a US$1.3 billion ICC claim filed almost 30 years ago against two Italian defence contractors, which failed because of sanctions imposed after the country's invasion of Kuwait.

04 June 2020

An ICSID tribunal has declined to hear a claim by a group of telecoms investors against Iraq under the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation investment agreement – with the panel dividing over whether the state’s consent to ICSID arbitration could be imported from another treaty via a most-favoured nation clause.

08 April 2020

A Canadian engineering company has applied to a court in Washington, DC, to enforce an ICC award against an Iraqi state-owned entity after discontinuing a similar action it commenced in New York earlier this year.

20 September 2019

An ICSID tribunal has partially upheld jurisdiction over a US$800 million claim against Iraq in relation to its alleged expropriation of a Kurdistan-based mobile phone operator – amid allegations of collusion between local shareholders and officials from the state’s regulatory body.

15 July 2019