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
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?
by Zoltán S. Novák, TaylorWessing We are used to thinking of international investment arbitration as a remedy against unlawful nationalization, expropriation, and other high-profile state acts depriving a foreign investor of his or her investment. It is pretty rare that the unfair treatment the investor complains about is limited to a simple court order requesting… Read More ICSID Complaint as Alternative to Supplemental Filing
EFILA together with the AIA and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators are co-hosting an event which focuses on some of the hot issues regarding the interaction between EU law and International Arbitration. Speakers will deal both with commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration issues, as well as their interaction with EU law. This half-day event takes place… Read More EFILA, AIA and CIArb Event in Brussels: International Arbitration and EU Law Issues
by Dr. Richard Happ, LUTHER It has been argued that ISDS would not be necessary between developed States. ISDS would grant foreign investors additional rights and treat them better than domestic investors. That is – at least for Germany – not correct. And that is not due to an extraordinary high political risk, but due… Read More Why Investors in Germany Need Investment Protection
by Orçun Çetinkaya, Moroğlu Arseven Following the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey on 24 November 2015, Russian-Turkey relations have entered into a new phase. Russia imposed a series of economic measures and sanctions against Turkey. Turkish individuals and companies who invested in Russia where they spent decades have been negatively affected from those measures. There… Read More Russian Sanctions against Turkey and BIT Claims
by Dr. Nikos Lavranos LLM, Secretary General of EFILA* A couple of weeks ago the first award in the series of more than 25 other solar energy cases against Spain was issued. The case was brought by two companies based in Luxembourg and the Netherlands against Spain on the basis of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT)… Read More The Lack of Any Legal Conflict Between EU Law and Intra-EU BITs/ECT Disputes
by Blazej Blasikiewicz and Juan Pablo Valdivia Pizzaro Maison du Barreau, Paris February 5th 2016 I. Introduction The European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA) set out for a promising year with its Inaugural Conference in London in January of 2015. Last year proved to be full of notorious developments in the area of… Read More Report on EFILA’s Annual Conference
by Emma Spiteri-Gonzi* Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is a procedural mechanism provided for in international investment agreements such as bilateral investment treaties (BITs) or multi-lateral investment treaties (MITs). ISDS allows an investor from one country to institute proceedings against the country where their investments where made- the Host State. So, has this novelty been overlooked… Read More ISDS Novelty Overlooked Or Novelty Outdated?
by Dr. Nikos Lavranos LLM, Secretary General of EFILA* During 2015 it became clear that the European Commission was under mounting pressure from the European Parliament (EP), Trade Ministers of several EU Member States, anti-ISDS NGOs and the media to propose more “reforms” of the investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) system that is contained in CETA and… Read More The Shortcomings of the Proposal for an “International Court System” (ICS)