Under Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Model Law (“Model Law”), an arbitral award may be set aside if the arbitration agreement is “not valid”. A more controversial issue is whether setting aside avenues should also be available in the opposite scenario, i.e., when a tribunal found that no valid arbitration agreement existed and declined jurisdiction….

The Amsterdam district court has recently refused to order the termination of a London-seated intra-EU investment arbitration against Poland. Whilst the outcome of the judgment is hardly surprising, the decision contains some interesting thoughts on the ‘desirability’ of the Achmea decision. This blog will discuss the current status of Achmea in the case law of…

According to Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, the Micula case is symbolic of the ‘conflictual relationship’ between EU law and international investment law. Indeed, the European Commission has persistently objected to the execution of the ICSID award issued in Micula, not because of the principles of autonomy and mutual trust that underpinned the Achmea judgment, but…

On 23 April 2021, Paul Vlas, Advocate-General of the Dutch Supreme Court issued his opinion in the Yukos case, setting the stage for the final setting aside act in The Hague after nine years of PCA-administered arbitration and six years of setting aside litigation. Advocate-General Vlas had previously advised the Dutch Supreme Court to reject…