by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA The anti-CETA/TTIP campaign is reaching its climax. After the anti-ISDS NGOs have managed to bring the TTIP-negotiations to halt – at least it has now been officially admitted that the negotiations cannot be concluded in 2016 and it remains unclear whether, and if so, how long the negotiations… Read More The Provisional Application of CETA is Coming Close
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA At the last meeting of the Trade Policy Committee (TPC) at Full Members level, that is at Director General level, encompassing all MS and the European Commission, DG Demarty of the Commission is quoted as saying that the EU trade policy would have a “big credibility problem” if… Read More Why the EU’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Competence Should be Re-nationalized
by Horia Ciurtin LL.M., Managing Editor of the EFILA Blog* Re-published by courtesy of Kluwer Arbitration Blog. Just like a century ago – and throughout their entire history – the Balkans remain a zone of structural instability. In this respect, the ‘end of history’ has not come around to the fringes of Europe, as Francis Fukuyama… Read More Diffusing the ‘Powder Keg’ through Regional Multilateralism: The Case for Investment Autarchy in the Balkans
by Sarthak Malhotra* A key area of exposition both in Public International Law and Investment Arbitration is what constitutes an ‘act of state’. The Draft Articles on State Responsibility have been a ground-breaking work in codifying the rules of attribution of responsibility to the states. A related issue in this regard is the attribution of liability… Read More India’s Federalism and Investment Arbitration
by Horia Ciurtin LL.M., Managing Editor of the EFILA Blog* The Geo-Economic ‘Great Game’ and Its Symbolic Requirements The Commission’s endless troubles with intra-EU investment treaties appears as a benchmark for its ability to develop a coherent trade and investment policy. Every single state and non-state stakeholder across the globalized agora is closely watching the manner… Read More Intra-EU BITs in a Fragile Union: On Non-Papers and Other (Legal) Demons
by Duarte G. Henriques, BCH Advocados* During a meeting on the occasion of the last ICCA Congress in Mauritius, someone asked whether a Third Party Funding is considered an “investment” for the purposes of protection afforded by international investment agreements (“IIAs”) and investor state dispute settlement (“ISDS”). Contrary to my first reaction—“no, TPF is not protected”—the… Read More Is Third Party Funding a Relevant “Investment” for the Purposes of a IIA Protection?
Nikoletta Kallasidou and Michal Mojto, AIA, Brussels The Arbitration for International Arbitration (AIA), EFILA and the CIArb jointly organised a well-attended event at the VUB University in Brussels on the 27th of May, bringing two panels of experts to discuss recent developments on EU-related arbitration. Contentious issues such as the Brussels I Bis Regulation, the… Read More Report on the AIA, EFILA and CIArb Event: Updates on EU Law Related Arbitration: A Selection of New, Controversial and Hot Topics
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA On June 7, 2016, the German Federal Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) published a press release summarizing its judgment in the Pechstein case. Since the judgment itself has not yet been published, the following blogpost is solely based on this press release and other publicly available sources. This case revolves… Read More The Pechstein Judgment Emphasizes the Virtues of Arbitration
Rimantas Daujotas, Motieka & Audzevicius PLP* As it was recently announced, Slovakia has succeeded in referring the legality of intra-EU bilateral investment treaties to the European Court of Justice, as part of its bid to stop Dutch insurer Achmea from enforcing a €22 million UNCITRAL award. In a decision on 3 March 2016, Germany’s Federal Court… Read More The Helping Hand of the MFN for the Intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties
Pratyush Nath Upreti*, Upreti & Associates In recent years, there have been several discussions on Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and its impact on states’ sovereign right to regulate. The latest cases of Philip Morris and Eli Lilly are evident where intellectual property claims were brought under the scrutiny of investment tribunals. These cases have received greater attention,… Read More Can Investors Use the Proposed Unified Patent Court for Treaty Shopping?