by Anina Liebkind[1] and Andreas Holst[2] SUMMARY: The Achmea saga reaches the precipice in Sweden with two landmark judgments. In judgments issued a day apart, the Svea Court of Appeal first declares the Novenergia II v. Spain award invalid because the issues in dispute are not arbitrable under Swedish law (Case No. T 4658-18, 13… Read More Landmark Judgments Rendered by Swedish Courts in the Achmea Saga
By Herbert Woopen[1] In Part I, this post explored and analysed domestic regulations in Italy concerning investment and ECJ’s decisions stemming from those. Now, Part II will look at international law solutions and will analyse how the European Union could and should amend past erroneous decisions. III. The role of International Law where EU Law… Read More Why Komstroy Cannot be the Last Word: more investment into greening the economy requires to bury Achmea, Komstroy, Micula and others (Part II)
By Herbert Woopen[1] I. Introduction: The EU’s ambition The EU has for a long time wished to be the frontrunner for innovative investments in green technology and strived to secure future economic growth for European companies exporting products for a sustainable world economy, products that are and will be invented in Europe. These intentions deserve… Read More Why Komstroy Cannot be the Last Word: more investment into greening the economy requires to bury Achmea, Komstroy, Micula and others (Part I)
by Ioana Maria Bratu[1] Context States’ failure to meet the 2015 Paris Agreement targets has already had substantial impacts on the world of arbitration, including national courts imposing CO2 levels reduction on big oil companies, NGOs becoming much more involved in climate change disputes (see here para. 3.5), and recently culminating with Belgium, France, Spain… Read More CSR in Investment Arbitration: The long way ahead
By Danilo Ruggero Di Bella[1] On the premise that not all most-favoured-nation (MFN) clauses are created equal, this piece will explore whether it is possible to combine an MFN clause with a more favourable MFN clause contained in another treaty. The objective of doing so, would be to invoke another provision in that treaty (or… Read More Untapped Potential of MFN Clauses: an MFN clause to invoke another “more” MFN clause
Young EFILA would like to remind you of two fantastic opportunities: 8th EFILA Annual Lecture We would like to invite you to the EFILA Annual Lecture, this year taking place on 13 October at the Press Club Brussels Europe in Brussels. The 2022 lecture will focus on “ESG Investment Strategy” This EFILA Annual Lecture consists… Read More Upcoming EFILA Opportunities: Annual Lecture October 2022 and Young Practitioners and Scholars Essay Competition 2023
By Agata Daszko[1] and Kilian Wagner[2] Introduction The Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT” or “Treaty”), signed in December 1994 in Lisbon, has its origins in the 1990 proposal of the Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers, which first resulted in the European Energy Charter of 1991 as a political declaration and continued in the negotiations for a… Read More Modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty: A necessary turning point for investment protection in the energy sector?
by Iván Levy[1] Introduction On June 16, 2022, the Tribunal in Green Power Partners K/S & SCE Solar Don Benito APS v. The Kingdom of Spain (Green Power v. Spain) issued its award and became the first tribunal to uphold the so-called intra-EU objection.[2] After a large number of decisions historically rejecting the objection, is… Read More Green Power v. Spain: Intra-EU Game Changer or an Exception that Confirms the Rule?
by Takashi Yokoyama (SymBio Pharmaceuticals)[i] and Yosuke Iwasaki (Sidley Austin LLP)[ii] This is the second post in two compositions analyzing Japan’s modern BIT policy.[iii] It aims to underline certain drafting hallmarks of Japan’s recently signed IIAs by examining the procedural provisions from Japan’s seven recent investment agreements, namely the Japan-Argentina BIT (JAGT), Japan-Armenia BIT (JAMT),… Read More Unveiling Japan’s Modern BIT Policy: A Review of its Procedural Provisions
by Sahaj Mathur (Third Year Bachelor of Law Student at the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata) Introduction It has been widely suggested that the International Investment Arbitration regime is undergoing a legitimacy crisis. A major factor behind backlash against the regime is the lack of coherence and consistency in Investment Arbitration. Such inconsistency can… Read More The UNCITRAL Working Group III negotiations and the Multilateral Investment Court: Scrutinizing consistency in Investor State Dispute Settlement