In line with the Blog’s tradition of “year-in-review” series, this post looks back at some of the key investor-State arbitration developments that took place in Europe in 2023 as we covered them on the Blog (for relevant previous Year-in-Review coverage, see here and here). With the developments in the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty…

The Panel “The Future of Major Energy Projects Crises, Challenges, and Opportunities” took place on the penultimate day of the London International Disputes Week 2023 (“LIDW 2023”) on 18th May 2023 in the London office of McDermott Will & Emergy with panellist Armando Neris from McDermott Will & Emery, Lucian Ilie from Outer Temple Chambers,…

London International Disputes Week (LIDW) 2023 main conference addressed various facets of international dispute resolution in a changing world. Looking back to the first edition of LIDW in 2019, when the main concern revolved around Brexit and the consequences of it on London as a leading place of arbitration and international litigation, the following editions…

Professor Vladimir Pavić is one of the leading scholars and practitioners in the area of international arbitration in Southeast Europe (SEE). He is Full Professor at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law where he teaches an array of courses, including among others, Arbitration Law, Competition Law, and Private International Law. He holds an SJD…

The extent to which different dispute resolution fora are willing to pay deference to the Court of Justice of the EU’s (“CJEU”) seminal (and controversial) Achmea decision is being closely observed by investors and States alike. 1) Not to mention the European Commission, which has sought to make itself heard in numerous proceedings relating to intra-EU…

Looking back on 2021, one realizes that for those interested in the intersection between EU law and investment arbitration, it was a busy year. As part of our customary “year-in-review” series, this post offers a brief overview of the key investment arbitration-related developments in Europe and their coverage on the Blog. I have grouped these…

As the transition period following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU approached, there was much speculation about what a “no deal” Brexit might entail. Optimistically, some drew inspiration from Singapore to suggest a possible future for the City of London as an “offshore” European financial services hub. While the exclusion of financial services from…

Although the Old Continent has suffered tremendously at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of arbitration still managed to find a way to keep on going. In this post, we are going to provide an overview of the most pivotal arbitration developments that occurred on the European soil in 2020. Among others, these…

Whenever litigating against states or sovereign entities – or international organisations for that matter – outside of their home jurisdiction there is a roadblock to consider: immunities. On closer inspection, immunities turn out as two roadblocks: immunity from jurisdiction and immunity from enforcement. Whereas the general assumption is that an agreement to arbitrate waives immunity…

The year 2019 has seen some important legislative and case law developments in the European jurisdictions and Kluwer Arbitration Blog, as always, has been closely monitoring the developments on the ground.   I. Summary of Important Legislative Developments   a) Sweden: Aligning Arbitration Law with International Developments and Eliminating Duplicate Proceedings In March 2019, a…

The Brexit clock is ticking and, under the current circumstances, the no deal scenario is being increasingly regarded at least as a concrete option – although the situation is changing on a daily basis and the extension of the two-year term under Article 50 TFEU could provide some breathing room. In the context of the…

A 2018 study commissioned by the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs concluded that the EU should seek to establish a “European Commercial Court” at the level of the EU1) Study for the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI Committee), Building Competence in Commercial Law in the Member States, authored by Prof. Dr. Giesela…

The Public Policy Exception as an Unruly Horse There is an ongoing quest for a uniform application of the New York Convention. However, the interpretation of the exceptions to enforcement still varies. Albeit applying the same provisions, national courts continue to adopt different approaches to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. This is particularly true…

Very rarely would a single arbitration-related decision produce as significant an impact as the judgment of the Court of Justice of European Union (“EU” and “CJEU” respectively) in the Achmea case did during 2018. We should not doubt that Achmea will remain a cornerstone issue in the world of arbitration for a long period of…

A unilateral option clause (“UOC”) can take many forms. It may grant its beneficiary the exclusive right to choose between litigation and arbitration when a dispute arises, or to choose to litigate before a specific jurisdiction, while constraining the non-beneficiary to a specific forum or a specific mode of dispute settlement. Consequently, UOCs are undoubtedly…

Over the past two months, the judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in Slovak Republic v Achmea BV, hereinafter referred to as “Achmea”, has created much discussion among arbitration practitioners. Its reasoning and implications have already been addressed in several Kluwer Arbitration blog posts, available here, here and here. The…

The Belt-and-Road Initiative (“BRI“) is a grand vision about connectivity, infrastructure, trade and unimpeded foreign direct investment (“FDI“) flows. It is a path to China’s largest export market  – the European Union – which does not only propose to ‘transit’ Eurasia (and coastal East Africa), but to radically transform it. And, thus, mere construction and…

European institutions have established the European Account Preservation Order procedure (“EAPO”) to facilitate the cross-border debt recovery through the attachment of bank accounts (see here the Regulation (EU) No. 655/2014, which will apply from 18 January 2017, except for Denmark and the United Kingdom). The EAPO in particular provides creditors with a measure alternative to national…

Michael P. Daly is a Visiting Scholar at George Washington Law School and Legal Adviser to Charles N. Brower and Jawad Ahmad is a Legal Adviser at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal. The views expressed in this post are the authors’ alone.   On 2 December 2015 after more than three years of negotiations, the European…

A ruling of the Austrian Supreme Court, the Oberste Gerichtshof in Vienna, Austria, of earlier this year (see ruling of 18 February 2015, 2 Ob 22/14w) raises anew the much debated question of the type and intensity of supervisory court review of European Union (EU) competition law awards. Readers may recall that EU competition law…

Ever since the EU started to develop its investment policy, anti-ISDS groups started an unprecedented campaign. Indeed, on the very same day (7 July 2010) the European Commission published its first Communication on the EU’s investment policy, the anti-ISDS groups had a 100 page publication ready calling for the dismantling of international investment arbitration. Since…

Dr. Ileana M. Smeureanu 1)Ileana Smeureanu is an associate attorney with Jones Day (Paris). This article is based on a speech that the author gave at the ICC YAF/YAPP 6TH Joint Annual Colloquium “Young Approaches to Arbitration”, Vienna (Austria), 12 April 2014. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and…

Last year at about the same period, I reported on two major events that had been taking place in the world of Intra- and Extra-EU BITs, the Regulation establishing transitional arrangements for bilateral investments agreements between Member States and Third Countries, on the one hand, and the Electrabel decision, on the other. See blog of…

In Part I of my post, the revised “Brussels I” Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters) was discussed in the light of a hypothetical example from international trade and arbitration. This Part 2 strives to outline the…