Starting with the Preliminary Draft, all drafts to the Convention provided for denunciation (History, Vol. I, p. 300). The debates show that denunciation was envisaged primarily for States that objected to an amendment (History, Vol. II, pp. 357, 442, 534/5, 536). But Mr. Broches pointed out that the right to withdraw from the Convention was unconditional and could be exercised by a State at any time and without giving any reason (at pp. 534/5). The requirement under Art. 66(1) that an amendment be ratified by all Contracting States makes this ground for denunciation otiose. There was also some debate as to whether a denunciation should be subject to a waiting period (at p. 536) and to whom the notice should be addressed (at pp. 1007–1009).

A notice of denunciation has to be addressed to the World Bank which, under Art. 73, is the depositary of the Convention. The depositary has to notify all signatory States of a notice of denunciation in accordance with Art. 75(f).

On 2 May 2007, the World Bank received a written notice of denunciation of the Convention from the Republic of Bolivia. The denunciation took effect six months after the receipt of Bolivia's notice on 3 November 2007. In its capacity as the depositary of the ICSID Convention, the World Bank notified all ICSID signatory States of Bolivia's denunciation of the ICSID Convention.