I. INTRODUCTION

1. Pursuant to Articles 10.16(1)(a) of the Dominican Republic - Central America - United States Free Trade Agreement (the “CAFTA”),1 the Claimants hereby serve this Notice of Arbitration and Statement of Claim for the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica’s breach of its obligations under the CAFTA and demand that this dispute be referred to arbitration.

2. Pursuant to CAFTA Article 10.16(2), Spence International Investments, LLC, Bob F. Spence, Joseph M. Holsten, Brenda K. Copher and Ronald E. Copher (collectively referred to as the “Spence Claimants”) served written notice of their intent to submit a claim to arbitration (“Spence NoI”) on the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica (hereinafter the “Respondent”, the “Government” or “Costa Rica”) on 9 October 2012.2 On 21 December 2012, the Spence Claimants served written notice on Costa Rica that an additional parcel of land would be included in their claim. 3

3. Pursuant to CAFTA Article 10.16(2), Brett E. Berkowitz, Trevor B. Berkowitz, Aaron C. Berkowitz and Glen Gremillion (collectively referred to as the “Berkowitz Claimants”) served written notice of their intent to submit a claim to arbitration (“Berkowitz NoI”) on the Government on 9 October 2012.4

4. More than 90 days have elapsed between service of both the Spence NoI and the Berkowitz NoI and the submission of this consolidated Notice of Arbitration.

5. Pursuant to Article 10.15 of the CAFTA, the Claimants have met with each other, and then with the Government to discuss the claim and attempt to negotiate a resolution. These efforts included a face-to-face meeting held in San José on 21 November 2012. The dispute remains unresolved. However, the Parties have agreed to consult with respect to the procedure for this arbitration and to seek to resolve the dispute in an expeditious and cost-effective manner.

6. The Respondent has indicated that it would prefer the claims noticed in the Spence NoI and Berkowitz NoI to be consolidated. In the interest of expediency, the Claimants are submitting this single, consolidated Notice of Arbitration and Statement of Claim. The filing of a single Notice of Arbitration and Statement of Claim is undertaken without prejudice to and expressly reserving the right to make different and/or further submissions with respect to the factual circumstances and losses of the respective Claimants.