Aguilar Castillo Love is a leading international law firm with offices in Central America and Ecuador.
Organization that operates in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Central America
Phone: (505) 2225 8748
Infinito Gold is suing for $94 million lost due to violations of the agreement for the promotion and protection of investments between Costa Rica and Canada.
Industrias Infinito confirmed that its parent company, Infinito Gold, has filed a law suit against Costa Rica at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) seeking compensation as a result of their investments in the canceled mining project of Crucitas.
With this legislation, the country will be able to develop a new business sector and establish itself as an international center for arbitration.
Recently, the country approved a law to regulate domestic and international arbitration. This will allow Panama to position itself as an international arbitration center, thanks to its logistics development, infrastructure and connectivity.
With the upcoming implementation of the Third Central American Convention on Arbitration Centers the use of alternative methods of dispute resolution is being encouraged.
Alfredo Skinner-Klee, an expert in arbitration from the company Arenales & Skinner Klee said in an interview with Elperiodico.com.gt conducted by Lorena Alvarez: that "Arbitration has become a major institution in the trade, in international transactions and in the last 20 years resolution mechanisms via arbitration investment disputes have been enabled."
The country has the optimal geographic location, adequate infrastructure, modern legislation regarding these matters, and lawyers specializing in international commercial litigation.
According to Roman Feoli firm partner at Feoli & Co., "Panama has all the tools necessary to make this activity one of the largest in the country, all that remains is to make the decision as a country to achieve this goal and start to promote ourselves around the world. "
An arbitration has required the brokerage firm Popular Valores to pay more than $212,000 to a dissatisfied customer, due to breach of obligations regarding information and advice.
The process was handled at the Center for Conciliation and Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce in Costa Rica. According to this tribunal, Popular Valores "breached its obligations regarding information and advice" in their relationship with the client.
While conventional courts take between 4 and 7 years to rule on a case, conciliation and arbitration centers do so in between 8 and 10 months.
The country currently has 15 centers and 17 Justice Houses of a public nature for alternative dispute resolution.
One example is the Alternative Justice Center created by the Lawyer's Association of Costa Rica, in January 2012, which in less than a year has resolved between 28 and 30 processes of conciliation and arbitration. However, it took 8 years to enter into play with other organizations who had already been in operation for over a decade, and are authorized by the State to conciliate and arbitrate conflicts.
The Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River in El Salvador is generating recurring conflicts with international companies who they have contracted.
"The administration of the Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River (CEL) is still creating expenses for Salvadorans both because of a lack of investment as well as the international arbitrations it has caused, for which it had to pay millions in compensation, and what is more, it is likely to continue to incur expenses in the 'conflict resolution'," according to an article Laprensagrafica.com.
The way that the government handles the arbitration failure at the International Chamber of Commerce on the La Geo case could dictate the success or failure of state-business partnerships.
The private-public scheme has been promoted recently by the Salvadoran government for the implementation of large public infrastructure projects because they can free the state from the significant investments that such works require.
Although the region only accounts for 10% of the global economy, it is involved in 50% of all international arbitrages filed for noncompliance in foreign investment contracts.
20 years ago, there were few cases which required international arbitrage in Latin America, and they only accounted for a few million dollars. Nowadays there are a dozens, for hundreds of millions, and in some cases, billion dollars.
CEL, the state owned energy company, will have to pay the U.S. company over $18 million in compensation.
The dispute between both organizations started in 1999, when CEL decided to end an energy procurement contract enacted 5 years earlier with energy generator Nejapa Power. The parties were unable to land satisfactory indemnification terms, so they proceeded to international arbitration.