The first quarter of 2025 has been marked by sustained activity and significant developments in the field of investment law and arbitration. The ongoing dynamics surrounding the modernization of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and the progressive withdrawal of EU Member States (and the EU itself) from the ECT have continued to shape the legal… Read More Quarterly Review: January – March 2025
Reflections from the EFILA Conference during Paris Arbitration Week 2025 By Kubra Bayramova and Ana Cheminot[1] Economic security has emerged as a cornerstone of the European Union’s (EU) strategic agenda, especially as geopolitical tensions, technological competition, and foreign influence reshape the investment landscape. Despite its growing importance, the term “economic security” lacks a universally accepted… Read More Hot Topics in EU Economic Security: Challenges & Opportunities
Mihaela Apostol is an independent counsel and arbitrator based in London. Mihaela is a civil (Avocat of the Bar of Bucharest, Romania) and common law (Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales) qualified lawyer with 11 years of practice having worked as counsel, tribunal secretary and arbitrator. She has experience in investment and… Read More Young EFILA in Conversation with… Mihaela Apostol
The last three months of 2024 saw significant developments in the fields of international arbitration and investment treaty disputes. Key decisions and legislative reforms took place, once again shaping the arbitration landscape and reinforcing legal certainty in several jurisdictions, with repercussions in the following months. ECT Modernisation and Termination of Intra-EU BITs. EU stakeholders body… Read More Quarterly Review: October – December 2024
By Claudia Wortmann[1] State Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (‘UNFCCC’) and the 2015 Paris Agreement are obliged to take steps to mitigate climate change. Such steps include achieving an urgent energy transition away from fossil fuels toward more renewable, ‘green’ energy. However, one of the issues that arises in the… Read More Conflicts Between International Climate Law and Investment Arbitration: A proposed exception to the full reparation standard without moving the goalposts
By Dimitar Arabov[1] Registering arbitral awards rendered pursuant to the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (1965) (the “ICSID Convention” and, respectively, “ICSID Award(s)”) in England & Wales ought to be, at least in principle, a reasonably straightforward matter. The implementing legislation of the ICSID Convention in… Read More UK’s Court of Appeal Affirms No Adjudicative Immunity for States in ICSID Award Registration Proceedings
By Hugo Cardona[1] Introduction The 10th Annual EFILA Lecture, held on 25 November 2024 at Queen Mary University of London, represented a significant milestone in EFILA’s series of successful academic events. It provided a forum for an insightful analysis of the evolving landscape of ICSID arbitration. The lecture was delivered by Martina Polasek, who assumed… Read More Report on the 10th Annual EFILA Lecture Delivered by Martina Polasek of ICSID: Reflections on the Past and Future Significance of ICSID’s First 1000 Cases
By Dimitar Arabov[1] On 27 November 2024, Young EFILA organised another successful and thought-provoking debate, held at the London offices of Clyde & Co. The debate focused on identifying the most significant decision from the first 1,000 cases filed under the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States… Read More Report From the Young EFILA Debate: What is the most significant decision from the first 1,000 ICSID cases?
by Ioana Bratu and Arijit Sanyal[1] As explored in our article “Data as Protected Investment in the Background of Einarsson v. Canada” (IJAL 12:2 2024), on which this post is based: data is increasingly recognised as a significant asset in international investment arbitration. The pending Einarsson v. Canada case[2] addresses the question of whether seismic… Read More Data as Protected Investment in the Background of Einarsson v. Canada
Back from the summer months, our editors are here to provide you with an overview of some of the key events from the past quarter, which was by no means a slow period in the world of international investment law and arbitration. The EU continued to assert its stance on intra-EU arbitration, while also influencing… Read More Quarterly Review: July – September 2024