On 17 July 2012, the Privy Council gave judgment in a case brought by FG Hemisphere, a Delaware corporation, against La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (“Gécamines“), a mining company owned by the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC“).
The judgment develops the law on the liability of state-owned corporations for debts owed by the State. The Privy Council, by reference to a comprehensive range of English, US, French, Commonwealth and international case law, has issued an authoritative view on the matters to be taken into account when considering whether a state-owned entity may be equated to a State for the purposes of liability and enforcement. The Privy Council held that Gécamines was clearly an entity distinct from the State, and as such, FG Hemisphere was unable to enforce DRC debts against Gécamines’ assets.
This judgment follows the recent case of Democratic Republic of the Congo v. FG Hemisphere (FACV Nos. 5, 6 & 7 of 2010) in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and considers some of the same facts that arose in that case. Please click here to read our post on our Arbitration blog.
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