UK Supreme Court confirms that States cannot invoke sovereign immunity to prevent registration of ICSID awards in the English courts

On 4 March 2026, the UK Supreme Court (“Court”) held that Contracting States to the ICSID Convention (“Convention”) cannot invoke sovereign immunity to prevent the registration of ICSID awards in England and Wales (“Judgment”). The Judgment can be found here. The Court confirmed that Article 54(1) of the Convention constitutes a prior written agreement submitting to the jurisdiction of the courts of the United Kingdom within the meaning of section 2(2) of the State Immunity Act 1978 (“SIA”).... By: Hogan Lovells