How investor-state cases end

Two ways a case ends

An investor-state arbitration ends in one of two ways. A tribunal decides the dispute in an award, or the case is settled or otherwise discontinued before that point ¹.

ICSID's FY2026 covers the year to 30 June 2026. Its release of 14 August 2026 states that 63% of the arbitrations concluded in FY2026 were decided by the tribunal and 37% were settled or otherwise discontinued ⁶. Issue 2026-2 of ICSID's statistics prints these figures, and an all-years split, in charts whose text does not tie each figure to its label. This page does not repeat the all-years split ¹.

ICSID groups discontinued cases by cause. The categories include discontinuance at the request of both parties, at the request of one party, a settlement recorded in an award at the parties' request, non-payment of the advances on costs, and failure of the parties to act ¹.

What tribunals decide

When a tribunal decides the case, ICSID records one of four results. The figures below are from ICSID's release for FY2026 ⁶. The 2026-2 statistics give an all-years breakdown in a chart whose text does not tie each figure to its label, so this page does not repeat it ¹.

Upheld does not mean the full amount

An award that upholds claims does not always order money. ICSID's release states that 70% of tribunal-decided cases in FY2026 resulted in no damages to claimants. Across all ICSID arbitrations the share with no damages was 55% ⁶.

Where damages were awarded, ICSID compares the sum awarded with the sum claimed. Its release states that damages were under 10% of the amount claimed in 22% of tribunal-decided arbitrations across all years ⁶.

ICSID says these figures use the principal amount of damages. They do not include interest, costs or non-monetary relief ¹.

After the award: annulment

An ICSID Convention award binds the parties and cannot be appealed. The only remedies are those the Convention provides (Article 53) ². Annulment under Article 52 is one of them. A party can apply within 120 days on five grounds: the tribunal was not properly constituted, it manifestly exceeded its powers, a member was corrupt, there was a serious departure from a fundamental rule of procedure, or the award failed to state its reasons ².

To the end of FY2026, tribunals rendered 543 awards under the ICSID Convention. Ad hoc committees rejected 124 applications for annulment and annulled 28 awards, 20 in part and 8 in full. Another 51 annulment proceedings were discontinued ¹.

Cases outside ICSID

UNCTAD counts treaty-based cases in all forums. It recorded 1,463 known cases at 31 December 2025, including at least 56 filed in 2025 ³. At 31 July 2025, 136 countries and the European Union had faced at least one such claim ⁴. UNCTAD notes that some arbitrations are confidential, so the true number is likely higher ⁴.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) lists 90 current investment-treaty or investment-law arbitrations on its cases page, which shows no update date and was viewed on 24 October 2026 ⁵. ICSID administered 15 cases under non-ICSID rules in FY2026, including 12 under UNCITRAL rules ⁶.