INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE YEAR 1989 1989 20 July General List No. 76 20 July 1989 CASE CONCERNING ELETTRONICA SICULA S.P.A. (ELSI) (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ITALY) Diplomatic protection - Rule of exhaustion of local remedies - Applicability to claim under treaty which does not mention the rule - Applicability to claim for declaratoryjudgment - Allegation that objection barred by estoppel - Conditions requiredfor the satisfaction of the rule. Alleged breaches of 1948 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Italy and United States, the Protocol and the 1951 Supplementary Agreement thereto. Article III of FCN Treaty - Alleged interjërence with shareholders' right to "control and manage" Company, by requisition of its plant and equipment Meaning of qualifying phrase "in conformity with the applicable laws and regulations" of Party - Relevance of municipal law - Possibility of disturbance of normal exercise of rights during public emergencies and the like. Article V ,paragraphs 1 and 3, of FCN Treaty - "Constant protection and security" of nationals of each Party -for their persons and property" - Standard of protection required - Identification of '$ropertyWto be protected - Complaint of occupation of property - Treaty provision not equivalent to a warranty that property shall never in any circumstances be occupied or disturbed - Complaint of delay in ruling an appeal against requisition. Article V ,paragraph 2, of FCN Treaty - Paragraph 1 of Protocol to FCN Treaty . . . of either . . . Party shall not be taken . . ." Difference between English text ("taken") and Ztalian text ("espropriati") - Disguised expropriation - Relevance of company's financial situation. - ' ' n e property of nationals Article I of Supplementary Agreement to FCN Treaty - Prohibition of "arbitrary or discriminatory measures . . . resulting particularly innpreventing effective control and management of enterprises or impairing legally acquired rights Effect of word '$articularly" - Definition of arbitrariness in international law - Relevance of finding of municipal court to question whether act was to be classed