6 Responsibility, 6.1 Westland Helicopters Ltd v Arab Organization for Industrialization, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Qatar, Arab Republic of Egypt, and Arab British Helicopter Company, Arbitration, 5 March 1984, 80 ILR 600

Subject(s):

Judges — Membership of international organizations — International organizations, practice and procedure — Responsibility of international organizations — Arbitration — Judgments

This chapter treats the arbitration between Westland Helicopters Ltd and the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) as well as its member states. After several AOI member states decided to dissolve the organization in 1979, Westland Helicopters Ltd filed a request for arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce, claiming damages for non-fulfilment of contractual obligations. The Westland Helicopters arbitration is the first case in which a dispute settlement body had to decide on the possible responsibility of states for the wrongful acts of an international organization. While the Arbitral Tribunal in Westland Helicopters decided to hold AOI member states responsible alongside the international organization, Swiss courts later reversed this decision. The Westland Helicopters cases thus foreshadowed the debate, including many of the recurrent arguments, on whether and when the corporate veil of an international organization should be pierced.