Energy Charter Treaty

Denial of Benefits, ECT Modernisation, Energy Charter Treaty, ISDS

(Stockholm University) and (School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL))/ /Leave a comment

Denial of benefits clauses (DoB) have gained considerable traction in the past prolific years of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), and more specifically, with the growing number of Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) arbitrations. UNCTAD’s Investment Policy Hub still lists a considerably small number of international investment agreements (IIAs) providing for DoB: little above 200 which would…

Arbitration, ECT Modernisation, Energy Charter Treaty, Investment Arbitration

(Energy Charter Secretariat)/ /Leave a comment

Modernisation of any multilateral treaty is a category of tasks on its own. There are several prerequisites which shall be in place, apart from obsolete language and provisions. The most crucial element is a steady political will of a critical mass of countries based on the strong motivation, which will break inertia and create new…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforceability, Enforcement, ICSID, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, USA

(WilmerHale)/ /Leave a comment

After the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) rendered the Achmea decision, heated discussions on its impact ensued. Particularly, the concern raised on whether the ICSID proceeding provided for in intra-EU BITs and intra-EU disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) would be valid. Several arbitral tribunals and national courts have dealt with…

CJEU, Energy Charter Treaty, EU Law, Investment, Paris Court of Appeal, Set aside an arbitral award

(Reed Smith)/ /1 Comment

The Paris Court of Appeal has recently sought a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the interpretation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) in the ongoing Republic of Moldova v. Komstroy case.   A 20-Year-Old Tale The Republic of Moldova v. Komstroy case highlights the contradicting approaches to…

Arbitration Agreement, Energy Charter Treaty, Russia, Treaty Interpretation, UNCITRAL, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Yukos

(Albright StoneBridge Group)/ /2 Comments

Introduction On the 18th of February, the Court of Appeal in The Hague reversed the lower court’s decision annulling the awards rendered against the Russian Federation in Veteran Petroleum Ltd., Yukos Universal Ltd. and Hulley Enterprises Ltd. cases. The awards are thus revived. Notwithstanding the global notoriety and public controversy, the identity of the protagonists,…

Achmea, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, EU Law, European Union, ISDS

(University of Passau) and (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The recently leaked treaty for the termination of intra-EU BITs can be seen as the culmination of an ongoing effort by the European Commission to discourage investment arbitration between Member States, reflecting, in the eyes of many, a tension between public international law and EU law. In spite of this, and even after the Court…

Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Dispute Settlement, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, International Arbitration Procedures, International Mediation, Interview, Interviews with Our Editors, Investment Arbitration, ISDS Reform, Multilateral Investment Court

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Alejandro, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog! We are delighted to have the opportunity to interview you at a time when the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and its modernisation are on the spotlight. Alejandro is the current General Counsel and Head of the Conflict Resolution Centre at the ECT Secretariat, which…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, European Law, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, VCLT, VCLT Jubilee, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Colibra Insurance)/ /Leave a comment

The Cold War era brought to life, in a strange way, a number of all-encompassing treaties dealing with major subjects such as international treaty-making, diplomatic relations, law of seas, etc. Even among the topics covered by these treaties were enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and investment disputes. However, it seems like the world has already…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Investment Arbitration

(Vavrovsky Heine Marth)/ /Leave a comment

The tendency of arbitral tribunals constituted under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) to reject intra-EU jurisdictional objections, despite contrary views expressed by most EU member states, was recently continued in the case of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and others v. Kingdom of Spain (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/45).1)Decision on the Intra-EU Jurisdictional Objection, dated 25 February 2019,…

Arbitration, BIT, Energy Charter Treaty, EU Law, International arbitration, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment Arbitration, Multilateral Investment Court

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /Leave a comment

The regular readers of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog will recall my blog at the beginning of this year in which I predicted that 2019 would be the ‘Year of the big Harvest’ for the European Commission regarding its efforts to permanently change the landscape of international investment law and arbitration. This posts will review the…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, European Union, Intra-EU ISDS

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The Lisbon Treaty granted to the EU the competences on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The exercise of those competences on FDI has not been smooth in the area of Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), in particular, regarding the application of ISDS between a Member State and the investor of another Member State either whether those ISDS…

Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Italy, Oil & Gas

(Bottega Di Bella) and (Galvez Pascual SLP)/ /1 Comment

The Italian Republic – for better or for worse – is cracking down on hydrocarbon explorations and extractions. Kicking off with the regulatory changes recently brought about by the Italian Government, this post gauges their possible consequences for the stakeholders by going through a pending arbitration which may be ripe enough to become a benchmark…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, European Union, Intra-EU BITs

(Clyde & Co.)/ /Leave a comment
Clyde & Co.

At the risk of mixing metaphors, if Achmea (Slovak Republic v Achmea Case C-284/16) killed intra-EU investor-state arbitration, and the European Commission’s Communication COM(2018)547/2 of 19 July 2018 knocked the head off its zombie corpse, then the Declaration of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of 15 January 2019 on the legal…

Achmea, Brexit, Energy Charter Treaty

(Clyde & Co.)/ /Leave a comment
Clyde & Co.

Perhaps the one thing that is certain about the UK’s departure from the European Union is that it is uncertain. It is not certain that the UK and the EU will strike a deal on their future trading relationship after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019; it is not known whether the…

Achmea, Croatia, Energy Charter Treaty, Germany, Hungary, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Slovakia, Spain

(Linklaters LLP) and (Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea B.V. (Achmea) on arbitration under intra-EU BITs has been broadly discussed (on this blog, see e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Nine months after the Court’s ruling, some tribunals have had the opportunity to react. Food for…

Brexit, Energy Charter Treaty, European Law, European Union, Fair and Equitable Treatment, Spain

(School of Law, University of Westminster)/ /Leave a comment

It is widely acknowledged that the departure of the UK from the EU, commonly referred to as Brexit, gives rise to multiple legal problems, some of which are bound to lead to actions. While there is a widespread coverage of public law related litigation, there is less knowledge of potential private actions, including those taking…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Spain

(Colibra Insurance)/ /Leave a comment

The initially alluring and subsequently vehemently amended incentives for investments in renewable energy projects across Europe have given rise to a significant number of arbitration claims brought on basis of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and various BITs. Currently there are tens of pending investment treaty arbitrations with respect to renewable energy projects in Spain,…

Achmea, Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, European Commission, European Union, Italy, Spain

(Clyde & Co.)/ /Leave a comment
Clyde & Co.

There has been much comment about recent awards in Energy Charter Treaty (‘ECT’) arbitrations concerning investors’ claims against Spain and other EU states regarding renewable energy projects . The fortunes of investors and states have waxed and waned over the last few years, but overall it seemed that investors faced a considerable hurdle. In recent…

Arbitration, BIT, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU BITs, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(Lazareff Le Bars)/ /2 Comments

After the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, many eastern bloc countries acceded to the European Union. BITs entered into between the eastern bloc and the western bloc were transformed into the so-called “Intra-EU BITs”. The problems of Intra-EU BITs arose when the European Commission started its campaign against Intra-EU BITs, alleging their incompatibility…

Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, ICSID, UNCITRAL

(Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP)/ /Leave a comment

2017 has witnessed a boom in the number of international arbitrations in the energy sector. This is no surprise. Indeed, at the end of 2016, ICSID’s caseload-statistics reported that 42% of cases administered by ICSID arose from the energy sector, which was more than any other sector. As anticipated, this rise has continued throughout 2017….

Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU BITs, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(Bottega Di Bella)/ /Leave a comment

Currently, several dozen arbitral claims have been lodged by investors from an EU Member-State against another EU Member-State based on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). These so-called intra-EU ECT-based arbitrations seem to be increasing, despite attempts by the European Commission to halt them. So far, neither the Respondent-States nor the Commission (as amicus curiae) have…

Energy Charter Treaty, Investment, Investment protection, Investor

(Bottega Di Bella)/ /Leave a comment

In an interesting post published on Kluwer Arbitration Blog by Eric Leikin and Martina Magnarelli, it is described in a very comprehensive manner the state of play as regards the soundness of Respondents and European Commission’s arguments refusing the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals in intra-EU ECT claims. Among these arguments (all rejected by the tribunal…

Energy Charter Treaty, GATT, Limitation Clause, Provisional Application, Yukos

(Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is often portrayed as one of the longest lived provisionally applied international treaties.  The GATT was signed in October 1947 as a temporary/“stopgap measure” that would later operate under the auspices of the International Trade Organization (ITO), the third pillar of the Bretton Woods system (with…

Amicus Curiae, Arbitration, Energy Charter Treaty, European Commission, European Law, European Union, Intra-EU BITs

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP) and (Seven Summits Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment
Young ICCA

Reliance on the investor-state dispute resolution (ISDS) mechanism of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is booming, with at least ten new cases registered in the past year alone. Notably, nine of these ten cases – and almost 60% of all publicly reported cases initiated to date – have been brought by an investor from a…