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Home → News & Events → International Arbitration For Grande Owners (Jan 8, 2008)

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International Arbitration For Grande Owners

Jan 8, 2008

(Source www.thebeachtimes.com, news, edition January 04, 2008)

International Arbitration For Grande Owners

By Ralph Nicholson

A German couple has taken the Costa Rican government to international arbitration because it suspended their residential development in Playa Grande.

Reinhard and Marion Unglaube have presented their case against the Costa Rican government to the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, in Washington DC, which is part of the World Bank.

In a prepared statement, the litigators said the legal action would bring negative attention to Costa Rica and create uncertainty for foreigners.

“The legal insecurity makes necessary an international arbitration, since the investment treaty between Germany and Costa Rica has been violated,” the statement read. “This will make it difficult for citizens from other countries to be interested in investing in a place where rights are not respected even if they are supported by agreements among nations.”

The Costa Rican government was notified last month of the legal action.

The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is 40-year-old autonomous international body with more than 140 member states. As the name suggests, its main purpose is to provide facilities for conciliation and arbitration of international investment disputes.

Today, ICSID is considered to be the leading international arbitration institution devoted to investor-State dispute settlement.

Mr Unglaube, who is an honorary member of the highly-respected World Conservation Union (IUCN) and an active member of Greenpeace, bought 33.5 hectares (about 83 acres) in Playa Grande about 15 years ago. He developed a tourist project, comprising 60 houses, four hotels and a small market.

pic beach times

However, like other residents with properties in Playa Grande, he has been refused building permits to develop the remaining three and a half hectares.

Playa Grande is one of the few beaches on the Pacific coast that doesn’t have a maritime concession zone, which means property can extend to 50 meters above the water line.

The debate over the popular surf beach dates back to June of 1995 when the Legislative Assembly, under pressure from environmental groups, passed a law declaring a 75-meter strip, beyond the maritime zone at Playa Grande, Ventanas, and Carbón to be national park land, in order to protect leatherback turtle nesting grounds.

The resulting 8000 hectares became Parque Nacional Las Baulas.

Yet the decision launched a decade-long battle that focused mainly on legal jargon, which tried to determine if the term aguas adentro (from the water) meant the 75 meters on to shore, or out to sea.

The Attorney General’s office ruled it meant from the water inland, but the fact is still contested.
Environmentalists say they want the land preserved because it is currently the only place on the American Pacific where the critically-endangered leatherback turtles still come to nest.

Landowners argue however, instead of expropriations, the solution is a comprehensive, low-density zoning code that is strictly enforced. They say the real damage to the leatherback turtles is by long-liner fishermen, way out to sea.