Artikel 28

(1). The Arbitral Tribunal for the Agreement on German External Debts (hereinafter referred to as “the Tribunal”) shall be established for the purposes hereinafter specified. The composition and organisation of the Tribunal and the rules for the exercise of its jurisdiction are contained in the Charter which is appended hereto as Annex IX.
(2). Subject to the provisions of paragraph (5) of this Article, the Tribunal shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all disputes between two or more of the Parties to the present Agreement regarding the interpretation or application of the Agreement, or the Annexes thereto, which the Parties are not able to settle by negotiation, except that any dispute respecting the interpretation or application of Article 34 of the present Agreement shall not be within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal or of any other court or tribunal. In any proceeding before the Tribunal concerning a dispute between Parties to the present Agreement, other than the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the said Government shall, at the request of any party to the dispute, become a party to such proceeding.
(3). The Tribunal shall have exclusive jurisdiction in proceedings concerning questions of fundamental importance for the interpretation of Annex IV to the present Agreement, referred to in the second paragraph of Article 16 of that Annex, which are submitted to it by any Party to the present Agreement. The provisions of this paragraph shall not affect the jurisdiction of the Mixed Commission as laid down in paragraph (2) of Article 31 of the present Agreement.
(4). The Tribunal shall have exclusive jurisdiction in appeals which are brought under the provisions of paragraph (7) of Article 31 of the present Agreement.
(5). Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this Article, the Tribunal shall not have jurisdiction in any dispute which is concerned solely with the interpretation or application of an Annex to the present Agreement if an arbitral body established pursuant to such Annex is competent to decide the question of interpretation or application concerned. The foregoing provision shall not be deemed to limit the jurisdiction of the Tribunal in any dispute as to whether a decision of such an arbitral body is in conflict with any of the provisions of the present Agreement.
(6). Any Party to the present Agreement which is concerned in the subject-matter of a proceeding before the Tribunal shall be entitled to become a party to such proceeding.
(7). The Tribunal shall have power to decide questions as to its jurisdiction under the foregoing provisions of this Article.
(8). A decision of the Tribunal
(a) in a proceeding under paragraph (2) of this Article shall be final and binding upon the parties to the dispute and upon any other Party to the present Agreement which becomes a party to the proceeding;
(b) in a proceeding under paragraph (3) of this Article shall be final and binding upon the party which submitted the question to the Tribunal and upon any other party which becomes a party to the proceeding;
(c) in an appeal under paragraph (4) of this Article shall be final and binding upon the party or parties to such appeal.
(9). The jurisdiction of the Tribunal shall not be affected by the failure of any party to a dispute to enter an appearance in the proceeding before the Tribunal.
(10). Any arbitral body, other than the Tribunal, established under the present Agreement or the Annexes thereto, shall, in reaching decisions respecting the interpretation or application of the present Agreement or the Annexes thereto, be bound by any relevant decision of the Tribunal.
(11). If any Party to the present Agreement so requests, the Tribunal shall render an advisory opinion regarding the interpretation or application of the present Agreement (except with respect to the interpretation or application of Article 34). Such advisory opinion shall not have binding effect.