Achmea

Achmea, EU Law, German Federal Constitutional Court, International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(Schellenberg Wittmer)/ /Leave a comment

On March 6, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) delivered its (in)famous Achmea judgment (Case C-284/16), which subsequently became synonymous with the demise of investor-state arbitration in bilateral investment treaties between Member States of the European Union (“intra-EU BITs”). In this decision, the CJEU concluded that investor-state arbitration clauses in intra-EU…

Achmea, Challenge of Arbitral Award, Switzerland

(Pestalozzi)/ /Leave a comment

Over the last decade, the Czech Republic has defeated several treaty claims that were brought by investors following reforms in the Czech solar power sector. The state’s winning streak ended in June 2024, when the Swiss Supreme Court upheld an arbitral award ordering the Czech Republic to pay over 350 million Czech koruna (15 million…

Achmea, BIT, CJEU, Domestic Courts, ECT Withdrawal, Energy Charter Treaty, Europe, foreign direct investment, Foreign Investment, International arbitration, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Investment Arbitration

, (Clifford Chance)/ /Leave a comment

On 25 April 2024, the European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (“EFILA”) held its 9th Annual Conference at Clifford Chance in Frankfurt. The conference was opened by the Chair of the Executive Board of EFILA, Mirjam van de Hel (NautaDutilh) who underscored the importance of discussing the impact of geopolitical uncertainties on international arbitration…

Achmea, Brexit, Enforcement, English courts, European Commission, European Court of Justice, Micula, Sweden, UK Supreme Court

, , (Vinge)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent judgment dated 14 March 2024, European Commission v UK Case C-516/22, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruled that the UK failed to comply with its obligations under EU law (the “CJEU Judgment”). A casual reader may wonder how this could be. After all, the UK officially left the…

Achmea, Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, International Investment Arbitration, Legitimacy, Paris Arbitration Week

, (Laborde Law)/ /Leave a comment

As part of Day 1 of Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”), Laborde Law held its first PAW event of the week at the Hotel Plaza Athénée, which included two panels addressing issues related to investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”). The first panel discussed “ISDS Enforcement War Stories and Lessons”, and the topic of the second panel was…

2023 in Review, Achmea, EU Law, Europe

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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…

Achmea, Amicus Curiae, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforcement, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, Set aside an arbitral award, Spain

, (BakerHostetler)/ /Leave a comment

On February 2, 2024, the United States filed an amicus brief (the “Amicus”) responding to a request from the United States (“US”) Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to provide the US’ position regarding the enforcement of three “intra-EU” investment arbitration awards issued under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) against the Kingdom of Spain….

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforcement, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, UK

(Fietta LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The English High Court’s judgment in Infrastructure Services v Spain is one of the most important developments of the past year in relation to the enforcement of intra-EU investment awards. It arises out of the Luxembourgish and Dutch claimants’ successful ICSID arbitration against Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”), in which the tribunal held…

Achmea, EU Law, German Federal Supreme Court, ICSID

(Bucerius Law School and Latham & Watkins LLP)/ /3 Comments

Seven years ago, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) set off an avalanche that buried most of the European investment arbitration landscape. The BGH’s order of June 3rd 2016 referred to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) a long debated question: Are intra-EU investment arbitrations compatible with EU law? They are not,…

Achmea, CJEU, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Sweden

(Roschier Attorneys, Ltd.)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Komstroy (C-741/19, Sept, 2021) that the dispute resolution mechanism of the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) does not apply in intra-EU investment disputes. The ruling was interpreted by some as the beginning of the end of intra-EU investment arbitration. A recent decision by the…

Achmea, Balkans, Climate change, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Paris Agreement

, (Association ARBITRI)/ /Leave a comment

Amid a push for more decisive action toward energy transition, countries around the world are facing pressure to innovate and adopt sweeping legislative amendments, all while trying to avoid investment claims by foreign investors affected by the changing regulatory frameworks. Among the countries performing this balancing act, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkans countries…

Achmea, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS

(Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Achmea, ECT Withdrawal, Energy Charter Treaty, modernisation process, World Arbitration Update

(Georgetown University Law Center)/ /Leave a comment

The Second Edition of the World Arbitration Update (WAU) took place from September 26 to September 30, 2022. This post highlights the panel on “Taking Stock of the ECT Modernization Process: Fit for the 21st Century?”. The panel was moderated by WAW Co-founder José Antonio Rivas (Xtrategy LLP/Georgetown Law). He was joined by Daniela-Olivia Ghicajanu (Georgetown…

Achmea, ECT Modernisation, European Court of Justice, European Union, Fair and Equitable Treatment, fossil fuels phase out, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS Reform, right to regulate, Treaty Making

(Seven Summits Arbitration), (University of Copenhagen), and (Hasselt University )/ /Leave a comment

The Centre for International Law and Governance, University of Copenhagen, in cooperation with Hasselt University and Seven Summits Arbitration, recently hosted an expert roundtable on “The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) at a Crossroads”. The discussion, moderated by the three authors of this post, focused on the relationship between investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), investment protection, modernization…

Achmea, CJEU, Germany, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS

, (Nishimura & Asahi)/ /Leave a comment

On 1 September 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne (“HRC Cologne”) issued two much-awaited decisions granting the Netherlands’ requests (see our report here) to have the German claimants’, RWE and Uniper, ECT-based ICSID arbitrations declared inadmissible pursuant to section 1032(2) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (“ZPO”) due to their intra-EU nature. As we reported,…

Achmea, Enforcement, European Convention on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights

(Twenty Essex) and (Fietta LLP)/ /1 Comment

On 30 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR” or “the Court”) delivered its judgment in BTS Holding, a.s. v. Slovakia (“BTS”), a case concerning the non-enforcement in Slovakia of a Paris-seated ICC commercial arbitration award.  Although there is nothing particularly ground-breaking in the Court’s key findings, the judgment has caught the attention…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, EU Law, Intra-EU ISDS

(Queens' College, University of Cambridge) and (University of Glasgow and Matrix Chambers London)/ /2 Comments

News of the award in Green Power and Obton v Spain is sinking in. Initial responses indicate that this is no ordinary decision – but rather a ‘major earthquake’, a ‘landmark decision’ and ‘one for the history books’. It may well be: on 16 June 2022, an SCC arbitral tribunal seated in Stockholm declined jurisdiction…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforcement, EU Law, Germany, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS

, (WAGNER Arbitration)/ /1 Comment

Germany found itself as the hotseat of the “battle” between EU law and investment arbitration in May 2016 when the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) referred questions relating to the compatibility of EU law with the arbitration clause in the Slovakia-Netherlands BIT to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) in Slovakia v….

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, Investor-State arbitration

(University of Vienna)/ /Leave a comment

Amidst the still ongoing negotiations on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which were concluded with an agreement in principle yesterday (24 June 2022), the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) delivered its ruling on Belgium’s request for an opinion on the compatibility of intra-EU investor-state arbitration under a modernised text of…

Achmea, Lithuania

(MILAŠAUSKAS MARTINKUTĖ SMALIUKAS)/ /Leave a comment

A recent decision of the Lithuanian Supreme Court (Civil case No. e3K-3-121-916/2022, 18 January 2022, hereinafter the “LSC judgement”) adds another episode to the long saga of implementing the Achmea  decision. The Lithuanian decision once again confirms the end of the BITs era in Europe and turns to national courts as well as to the…

Achmea, Enforcement, EU Law, Europe, European Law, European Union, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS

(Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Achmea, CJEU, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, Micula

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In its judgment rendered today, the Court of Justice has quashed the General Court’s decision having ruled that the European Commission was not competent ratione temporis to assess whether the compensation paid by Romania to the Micula brothers, in implementation of a 2013 ICSID award rendered under the 2002 Sweden-Romania BIT, was constitutive of state…

2021 in Review, Achmea, ECJ, Energy Charter Treaty, EU Law, Europe, European Union, Micula, Multilateral Investment Court

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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…

Achmea, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, PL Holdings

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In the latest episode of the intra-EU investment arbitration saga, the CJEU ruled on 26 October 2021, in Poland v. PL Holdings (Case C-109/20), that EU Member States are precluded from concluding with investors from another EU Member State an ad hoc arbitration agreement identical to an arbitration clause of an international treaty deemed invalid…