Admissibility in International Arbitration and The Consequence of Inadmissible Cases

Admissibility in international arbitration is a preliminary objection which can be brought upon by a party in a response for an international claim. There are two types of objection brought over in admissibility cases, the first is jurisdictional objection and the second is competence objection. To this date, there is no consensus between multiple investment arbitration rules and court rulings on the definition of admissibility. Investment arbitral courts are given wide discretion on deciding matters regarding an admissibility of a case in front of the tribunal. Admissibility plays an important role in investment arbitration proceedings as one of the basis of claim dismissal and it should be clearly separated from jurisdictional matter. This differentiation is related to the different outcome for cases which are rejected based on admissibility or jurisdictional issue. Claims which are dismissed because of jurisdictional issue cannot again be submitted in front of tribunal, however cases with admissibility issue may be resubmitted in front of the tribunal if the requirements have been fully met. A fine distinction between jurisdiction and is required to solve the inconsistencies of this matter. This distinction has a huge implication on a claim and is also linked directly to whether a claim is able to be resubmitted and matters concerning the annulment of investment arbitral awards.