Dear Mesdames and Sirs, 

Please find below the Tribunal’s decision regarding the place of arbitration. 

“The Tribunal has considered the Disputing Parties’ respective written submissions regarding the legal place of their arbitration within the meaning of NAFTA Article 1130 and ICSID AF Rules 19 and 20, as advanced by the Claimants’ letters (with enclosures) dated 24 August, 17 September and 10 October 2012 and the Respondent’s letters (with enclosures) dated 31 August, 26 September and 26 October 2012. The Tribunal has also considered (to the extent here relevant) ICSID’s letter dated 10 October 2012 under ICSID AF Rule 20. 

The Tribunal remains conscious, as already indicated in its message dated 2 October 2012, that this controversy between the Disputing Parties requires resolution as soon as possible, given in particular that these arbitration proceedings were commenced in February 2012 and that this particular item remains outstanding from the first session and draft first procedural order of July 2012. The Tribunal is therefore grateful to the Disputing Parties for their consent to the Tribunal’s proposal, made by letter dated 19 October 2012, that the Tribunal should decide upon the legal place of this arbitration and announce that decision to the Parties immediately, with written reasons for that decision to follow later.