Disputes Concerning the Termination of Joint Ventures: Lessons from Awards of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal

Abstract

On the day I was writing this paper, several newstories concerning joint ventures appeared in the Business Section of ‘ The International Herald Tribune ’. Let me quote the first paragraphs of four of them: The day these reports appeared was not an unusual day in current business history. Probably as many announcements of joint ventures appeared the day before, and as many—or more—are likely to appear in the days ahead. The contracts for these joint ventures, all transnational in scope, probably do—and certainly should—include provisions for international commercial arbitration. I estimate that the four joint enterprises will require advice from at least eleven sets of lawyers, who will consider the law of at least twelve countries, plus the European Community. Do the awards of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (‘the Tribunal’) provide any useful guidance for those lawyers and their clients? I think they do, and the purpose of this paper is to explain why. While the Tribunal's jurisprudence on the particular problems surrounding joint ventures admittedly is not extensive, it nonetheless is instructive. The lesson that in my mind emerges most clearly is that …