International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20433
Tel: 202-458-1534
Fax: 202-522-2615
http://www.worldbank.org/icsid

The World Bank Group created the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in 1966 to facilitate the settlement of investment disputes between governments and foreign investors in order to promote increased flows of international investment.  ICSID is an autonomous international organization, however it has close links with the World Bank.  All of ICSID's members are also members of the Bank.  ICSID provides facilities for the conciliation and arbitration of disputes between member countries and investors who qualify as nationals of other member countries.

Recourse to ICSID conciliation and arbitration is entirely voluntary.  Additional Facility conciliation and arbitration are also available for cases where the dispute is not an investment dispute provided it relates to a transaction which has features that distinguishes it from an ordinary commercial transaction.  Provisions on ICSID arbitration are commonly found in investment contracts between governments of member countries and investors from other member countries.