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 Velislava Hristova[1] Held in a hybrid format, the Young EFILA’s official kick-off event took place on 8 June 2022 at the Amsterdam office of Linklaters LLP and online. The event featured an Oxford-style debate on the motion: “After Achmea, Komstroy and PL Holdings: the EU is still an attractive foreign investment destination”. The debate… Read More Young EFILA Kick Off Event: a lively debate on the European Union as an attractive foreign investment destination
Prof. Nikos Lavranos & Prof. Loukas Mistelis (Co-Editors in Chief) We are very pleased and proud to present the fifth issue of the European Investment Law and Arbitration Review (EILA Rev) 2020. As of 23 December 2020, all articles of this volume can be ordered online at Brill Publishers: The stormy developments of the past… Read More The Contents of the European Investment Law and Arbitration Review, Vol. 5 (2020)
Prof. Dr. Alexander Reuter * The ECJ’s Achmea and CETA rulings [1]; as well as the entire debate conducted on the issue so far, disregard one legal factor, that is, the binding legal effect of investors’ rights under investment treaties. That factor is, however, at the heart of the matter and decisive. Under EU procedural… Read More Taking Investors’ Rights Seriously: The Achmea and CETA Rulings of the European Court of Justice do Not Bar Intra-EU Investment Arbitration
Alexandros-Cătălin Bakos[1] There is no denying that there is a serious backlash against investment arbitration at the moment. The signs are everywhere: from the latest discussions occurring within UNCITRAL’s Working Group III to the more recent practice of states (see the 22 European Union Member States’ declaration concerning the termination of their intra-EU Bilateral Investment… Read More Investment Tribunals Are Too Quick to Establish the Existence of Issue and Cause of Action Estoppel in International (Investment) Law
Alexandros Catalin Bakos, LL.M. Candidate, Utrecht University In a somewhat fortunate turn of events for the stability (or what is left of it in any case) of the intra-European Union (intra-EU) investment treaty system, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) has annulled the EU Commission’s decision rendered against Romania for illegal state aid… Read More Schrödinger’s Investment: the EU’s General Court Considers that the Compensation Ordered by the Micula Tribunal is Not a Form of State Aid (Although it Might as Well Have Been)
Shilpa Singh Jaswant, LLM (Hamburg) The proposed investment court system by the European Commission aims to limit criticism revolved around Investor-State Dispute Settlement due to its lack of legitimacy, transparency and appellate mechanism. The investment regime under Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada (hereinafter “CETA”) and European Union-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (hereinafter “EUVFTA”)… Read More A New And Improved Investment Protection Regime: Truth Or Myth!
Alexandros Catalin Bakos, LL. M.* […] but this is not where or how it ends. Fate promises more twists before this drama unfolds…completely (in-game dialogue from the intro scene of the video game Soul Reaver 2). The EU’s backlash against intra-EU (Bilateral?) Investment Treaties – intra-EU (B)ITs – reached its peak when the CJEU issued… Read More Post-Achmea Energy Charter Treaty Coherence and Stability: Upheld or Hindered?