The Constitutional Court (CC) rejected the requests for clarification and extension presented by citizens Tania Fernanda Coyago Coyago, Álex Gustavo Flores Álvarez, Ana Emma Narea Sánchez and Andrés David Arauz Galarza to the sentence that validated the agreement between the Government of Ecuador and the Government of the United Arab Emirates for the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments.
Through a clarification and extension order issued on April 16, 2026, the organization rejected these requests that were made on April 8 and 10.
At the same time, the CC ratified its opinion of March 30, 2025, in which, in a second constitutionality control, it validated the agreement between the Government of Ecuador and the Government of the United Arab Emirates for the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments, but conditioned the incorporation of an exclusion on the arbitration court.
The Constitutional Court declared the constitutionality of this agreement, as long as its article 20 incorporates a express exclusion that establishes unequivocally that the arbitration court may not hear contractual or commercial disputes between the State and private natural or legal persons, under the terms of article 422 of the Constitution.
The organization highlighted that this resolution is final and unappealable.
On March 5, The organization spoke after a request for constitutional control made by the Executive on December 31, 2025 and concluded that the agreement requires approval from the National Assembly before its ratification. The agreement was signed on December 6 of the previous year.
This agreement has 34 items and seeks to “promote and protect reciprocal investments, strengthen economic relations, create stable, equitable, favorable and transparent conditions for investment, stimulate the reciprocal flow of capital and economic development, recognizing that the objectives are achieved without undermining health, environmental or security measures.”
Meanwhile, the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Production and Foreign Trade met with the Legal Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic to work on the changes observed by the CC. Subsequently, the corrected proposal will be sent to the Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates to review it and make any observations it deems pertinent. (YO)
