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Glencore v. Bolivia, Judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal on Application to Set-aside the Arbitration Award, July 21, 2026

21 Jul 2026
Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Limited v. Plurinational State of Bolivia, PCA Case No. 2016-39
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Judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal on Bolivia's Application to Set-aside the Arbitration Award
Document Details:
LISTED PARTICIPANTS
Judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal on Bolivia's Application to Set-aside the Arbitration Award
Participants listed are for this document only and may not include all participants involved in the entire case. Always consult the original documents.
Claimant appointee
Respondent appointee
Tribunal/Panel chair
Arbitrator(s)
Sole Arbitrator
ICSID Annulment Committee president
ICSID Annulment Committee members
WTO Appellate Body members
WTO Appellate Body chair
Judges
M. Daniel Barlow, Jacques Le Vaillant, Joanna Ghorayeb
Claimant's counsel
Matthieu Boccon Gibod, Christophe Seraglini, Veronika Timofeeva
Claimant's law firm
Respondent's counsel
François Teytaud, Dany Khayat, Isabela Lacreta, Aslan Boucobza
Respondent's law firm
Other counsel
Claimant's expert
Claimant's expert firm
Respondent's expert
Respondent's expert firm
Claimant's witness
Respondent's witness
Other witnesses
Tribunal secretary
Tribunal assistant
Third-party funder
Entities
Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Limited, Teytaud-Saleh, Mayer Brown, LX Paris-versailles-reims, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Bolivia
Country
France
Print reporter
Document Summary
Judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal on Bolivia's Application to Set-aside the Arbitration Award
This summary note is machine-generated. Always consult the original materials.

Procedural Background

The Paris Court of Appeal (Cour d'appel de Paris) heard an application by the Plurinational State of Bolivia to set aside an arbitral award rendered on September 8, 2023, under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules in PCA Case No. 2016-39/AA641. The underlying dispute arose from Bolivia's nationalization of the Colquiri Mine and the Vinto tin and antimony smelters, which had been acquired by Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Ltd. The arbitral tribunal had found Bolivia in breach of the UK-Bolivia Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and awarded Glencore approximately USD 253.5 million in damages.

Issues and Parties' Positions

Bolivia sought annulment under Article 1520(1) and (5) of the French Code of Civil Procedure, arguing that the tribunal wrongly upheld jurisdiction and that the award's recognition would violate international public policy. Specifically, Bolivia contended that Glencore's investment was illegal, having been acquired through a corrupt privatization process, and that Glencore's corporate restructuring constituted an abuse of rights designed solely to gain BIT protection. Glencore maintained that the tribunal's jurisdictional findings were sound, emphasizing the autonomy of the arbitration agreement and the absence of any proven corruption or illegality attributable to it during the acquisition.

Court's Analysis and Findings

The Court rejected Bolivia's jurisdictional challenge, holding that the UK-Bolivia BIT's standing offer to arbitrate was autonomous and not expressly conditioned on the investment's compliance with domestic law. The Court further found no abuse of rights, noting that the corporate restructuring occurred well before the nationalization decrees and the crystallization of the dispute. Regarding international public policy, the Court conducted a de novo review but concluded that Bolivia failed to provide serious, precise, and consistent evidence (indices graves, précis et concordants) that the investment was tainted by corruption or that Glencore was complicit in any alleged misappropriation of public assets by third parties during the initial privatizations.

Decision

The Court dismissed the annulment application in its entirety, thereby granting exequatur to the arbitral award pursuant to Article 1527 of the French Code of Civil Procedure. Bolivia was ordered to bear the costs of the proceedings and to pay Glencore EUR 200,000 under Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure.