I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. In their communications over the past month, the Parties have made several procedural requests. This Order outlines the Parties' positions and provides the Tribunal's decisions on each request.

II. THE REQUESTS

A. MOTION FOR SUMMARY DETERMINATION

1. The Claimant's position

2. In its communications of 11, 18 and 21 March 2014, the Claimant requested the Tribunal to make a preliminary determination on the Respondent's reliance on Article 1108 of the NAFT A. According to the Claimant, "[a] determination that the NAFTA Article 1108 procurement exception does not apply to the claims would result in the elimination of the Article 1106 issue from consideration as Canada has put forward no defense to it. Alternatively, the determination that the NAFTA Article 1108 exception applies to the NAFTA inconsistent measures would potentially eliminate four of the Investor's claims (namely, Articles 1102, 1103, 1104 and 11 06)." The Claimant submitted that the resolution of its request would not require a separate phase in the arbitration and would save time and cost.

2. The Respondent's position

3. In its response of 18 and 21 March 2014, the Respondent opposed the request on the basis that the Tribunal had yet to determine that it has jurisdiction over the issues in dispute, that the request was untimely, and that bifurcating the proceedings at this stage would not be efficient. The appropriate place for the Claimant to provide its response to the Respondent's Article 1108 argument was in the Claimant's Reply, not in letters and motions.