The first quarter of 2024 proved full of developments and surprises in the realm of international investment law and arbitration. Our editorial board has collected some of the significant highlights for your consideration in this Quarterly Review. Case Law Updates At the start of the year, we have learnt that one of the most contentious… Read More Quarterly Review: January – March 2024
By Simon Weber[1] On 1 December 2022, the German Parliament (Bundestag) ratified the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA; the Agreement) with Canada. The Agreement has been provisionally applied since 2017. Ever since, almost 100% of customs duties on goods traded between Member States of the European Union and Canada have been abolished. CETA must be ratified… Read More Fair and Equitable Treatment in CETA from a German Perspective
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
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!
by Nikos Lavranos, Secretary General of EFILA* The year 2016 must be considered a real “annus horribilis” for the EU’s investment law and arbitration policy. The following list is just an incomplete overview of the failures of the European Commission to deliver any positive results: TTIP was not concluded within the presidency of the Obama Administration… Read More The ‘Mixed’ Future of the EU’s Investment Law and Arbitration Policy
by Artemis Malliaropoulou* “The problems are solved, not by giving new information, but by arranging what we have known since long.” ― Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 1953 The wording of the European Commission Public Consultation Paper on modalities for investment protection and ISDS in TTIP signals, among other questions, the necessity to conduct further research and… Read More Legitimate expectations in the TTIP proposal, in CETA, in EU law and in international investment law: a paradigm of Heraclitean hidden harmony?
by Ioana Petculescu* Following an arduous negotiation process which started in 2009, Canada and the European Union eventually signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (hereinafter “CETA” or the “Agreement”) on October 30, 2016. As recent events demonstrate, the Agreement remains, however, controversial and as contested as the already (in)famous Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership… Read More CETA and Fundamental Rights in the European Union: Invitation to a Dialogue between Courts
by Emanuela Matei, Associate Researcher – CELS* Staging the scene In October 2013 the European Commission issued a note entitled ‘Platform for Good Tax Governance: Addressing the remaining cases of double taxation in the single market: means to foster arbitration’ in which it exposed the limitations of the EU Arbitration Convention 90/463/EEC. It affirmed that whenever… Read More The love-hate story of arbitral jurisdiction over claims against states in the EU
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
On 9 November 2016 world renowned arbitrator Johnny Veeder QC will deliver the 2nd Annual EFILA Lecture. The title of his Lecture is: “The Phoenix to emerge from the ashes of TTIP and CETA: an international appellate court for investment disputes in Europe” The topic is very timely and Johnny Veeder’s lecture will be thought-provoking.… Read More EFILA Annual Lecture 2016 – Johnny Veeder