On 24 January 2012, Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had submitted a written notice of denunciation of the ICSID Convention to the World Bank. Article 71 provides that any contracting state may denounce the Convention by written notice and that the notice will take effect six months from the date it is received. Accordingly, Venezuela's notice will take effect on 25 July 2012. The ICSID website currently lists 21 pending cases against the state.

There is speculation that Venezuela will also attempt to cancel or renegotiate its 25 bilateral investment treaties.

Venezuela is the third country to withdraw from the ICSID Convention, following Bolivia and Ecuador (see Legal update, Ecuador withdraws from ICSID Convention).

Source: ICSID: Venezuela Submits a Notice under Article 71 of the ICSID Convention (26 January 2012).