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International Arbitration Forum

Groupe Pizzorno Environnement v. Kingdom of Morocco

Case summary

At a glance

Parties
Groupe Pizzorno Environnement (France) v. Kingdom of Morocco
Case no.
ICSID Case No. ARB/23/34
Forum and rules
ICSID Convention; ICSID Arbitration Rules in force from 1 July 2022
Tribunal
Prof. Dr. Klaus Sachs (President), Prof. Nassib G. Ziadé, Dr. Karim Hafez
Outcome
Procedural only. The published document is Procedural Order No. 1 of 11 April 2024; it does not show the merits or the outcome of the case.

The dispute

Groupe Pizzorno Environnement, a French company, started ICSID proceedings against the Kingdom of Morocco. Morocco was represented by its Agence judiciaire and by officials of the Ministry of the Interior. The only published document is Procedural Order No. 1. It sets the procedural rules and does not describe the investment, the measures complained of, the legal basis of the claim or Morocco's defences. The procedural calendar allows for preliminary objections by Morocco and for a possible request to bifurcate jurisdiction from the merits.

Key holdings

  1. The ICSID Arbitration Rules in force since 1 July 2022 apply. The Tribunal was constituted on 12 March 2024, and the parties confirmed they had no objection to any of its members. PO1 ¶¶ 1.1, 2.1
  2. The parties agreed that the place of proceedings is Paris, France (World Bank Conference Centre). The language of the proceedings is French. Exhibits in English may be quoted without a French translation. PO1 ¶¶ 11.1, 12.1–12.3
  3. Requests for document production are made by Redfern Schedule and must comply with Articles 3 and 9 of the IBA Rules 2020. PO1 ¶¶ 16.1–16.2
  4. The Tribunal appointed Dr. Simon Jobst, a senior associate at the President's firm, as assistant to the Tribunal, with administrative and drafting-support duties. PO1 ¶¶ 8.1–8.2
  5. Hearings are not public. The parties did not consent to ICSID publishing their pleadings or the hearing recordings and transcripts. They did not agree on the publication of orders, decisions and the award, so the ICSID Convention and Rules govern that question. PO1 ¶¶ 21.7, 24.1–24.2
  6. Annex B sets out alternative calendars: one without bifurcation, one with preliminary objections heard together with the merits, and one with a separate jurisdictional phase. In the first scenario the Tribunal reserved 1–12 June 2026 for the hearing. PO1 Annex B

Procedural history

  1. 30 October 2023 – 12 March 2024The arbitrators accepted their appointments on 30 October 2023, 13 November 2023 and 12 March 2024.
  2. 12 March 2024Tribunal constituted.
  3. 4 April 2024First session held by videoconference.
  4. 11 April 2024Procedural Order No. 1 issued, signed by the President.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by
For the claimant
Bird & Bird · Pizzorno (in-house)
For the respondent
Allen & Overy LLP · Agence judiciaire du Royaume du Maroc · Ministère de l'Intérieur du Royaume du Maroc

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Keywords

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.

Case ID
ICSID Case No. ARB/23/34
Country
Treaty
France - Morocco BIT (1996)
Section