El (largo) camino de reconocimiento y ejecución de laudos arbitrales de inversion

When the investor wins an investment arbitration, must initiate the efforts to achieve the execution of the favorable arbitration award with the host State. In the event of non-compliance, he must begin a judicial process in order to achieve the recognition and enforcement of the award. This paper analyses the procedure in accordance with the applicable regulations, since the path of recognition will depend, to a large extent, on whether the award is covered or not by the provisions of the Washington Convention. After this stage, the execution of the award is subject to the domestic law in the requested State, who must analyze the provenance or not of the principle of immunity from execution of assets owned by the recalcitrant State. We conclude, according to the analysis of publicly known cases, that it is a long way to reach the final objective of recovering all or part of the invested capital. Investor success depends on his resilience, diligence, and financial ability to meet this challenge.