{"title":"Raiffeisen Bank International AG V Croatia, ICSID Case No arb/17/34","authors":"J. Chaisse, A. Solanki","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601014","url":null,"abstract":"In September 2020, an ICSID tribunal rendered its decision on the Respondent’s Jurisdictional Objections in Raiffeisen v Croatia, two years after the ICSID Chairman of the Administrative Council rejected Croatia’s application to disqualify Dr. Stanimir Alexandrov as a member of the tribunal. The decision on the Respondent’s Jurisdictional Objections concerns the interpretation of the Austria- Croatia bit and its compatibility with the EU acquis. This case- note addresses both the decision on the Respondent’s Jurisdictional Objections and the Chairman of the Administrative Council’s decision on the proposed disqualification of Dr. Alexandrov. In so doing, it focuses on three key issues: the selection and conduct of the arbitrator that gave rise to disqualification, and the role played by ICSID in the process; the interrelation between investment treaties, EU Law, and EU Member States; and the implementation of the vclt for termination of treaties covering similar subject matter.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123902560","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Opinion of Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe in Anie and Others v. Italy – End of the Road for intra-EU ECT Arbitration?","authors":"Auriane Negret","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601012","url":null,"abstract":"On 29 October 2020, Court of Justice of the European Union (cjeu) Advocate General (ag) Saugmandsgaard Øe delivered his opinion on Joined Cases C- 798/ 18 and C- 799/ 18 regarding the compatibility of Italian measures reducing incentives in the renewable energy sector with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter) and the Energy Charter Treaty (the ect). These cases emerged from two questions referred by the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, Italy to the cjeu. In his opinion, the ag suggests that the Italian measures are compatible with both the Charter and the ect and recommends that the cjeu issue a preliminary ruling to that effect. In a noteworthy footnote, the ag also expresses his opinion on the consequences of the 2018 Achmea decision for ect arbitration between EU Member States (intra- eu ect arbitration). This case note recalls and comments on the arguments of the ag, with a focus on its significance in the debate on the future of intra- EU investment disputes based on the ect.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115179880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"UNCITRAL Working Group III and Multilateral Investment Court – Troubled Waters for EU Normative Power","authors":"O. Svoboda","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601005","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses the European Union (EU)’s and its Member States’ activities in the multilateral reform of investors- state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the early stages of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) discussions with the ultimate goal of the establishment of a multilateral investment court. First, the article explains the EU’s approach to the reform and its ambitious proposal of a standing investment court. Then, it demonstrates how difficult it turned out to be for the EU to promote the reform proposal in multilateral negotiations at the UNCITRAL. Finally, the article explores how the EU employs several means, including internal mobilisation, or engagement of other stakeholders, in order to ensure that work of the UNCITRAL continues in a direction of systemic reform of ISDS. In conclusion, it offers a view of how the EU normative ambitions play out in the context of different approaches of third countries and how legal factors complement its political preferences.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129647104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"EU- China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment – A Rebalancing of Investment Relations","authors":"R. O'reilly","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601003","url":null,"abstract":"The EU- China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment represents a significant milestone in the trading and investment relationship of two of the world’s largest economies. This article examines the key provisions of the agreement in principle and the changes they would bring for EU investors and foreign direct investment flows. Additionally, this article analyses the gaps in the agreement and seeks to shed some light on the possible future direction of travel in the areas of investment protection and investor- state dispute settlement. It also assesses whether the provisions on sustainability actually advance the EU’s value- based trade agenda.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130183192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investment Protection Under the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: Limited but Predictable?","authors":"Samuel Pape, Alice Zhou","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601006","url":null,"abstract":"After ten months of intense negotiations, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was concluded on 24 December 2020. The TCA runs to 1,246 pages and covers what may be the broadest range of issues ever to be addressed within an international trade agreement. However, the tca’s limited investment protection provisions have been met with perplexity and expressions of disappointment among commentators. In particular, the limited set of substantive investment protections and the absence of an investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism have been viewed as something of a missed opportunity, particularly as the EU and the UK have agreed to more expansive investment chapters in recent trade agreements with third parties. Why did the UK and the EU ultimately limit the scope of investment protection and exclude ISDS under the TCA? This article examines this question by analysing the key features of the tca’s investment chapter and tracing the underlying investment policy dynamics, including the UK’s and the EU’s respective negotiating positions that led to the tca’s circumscribed investment chapter. This article also considers the significance and potential implications of the TCA for the UK’s and the EU’s respective investment policies going forward.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127459877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"J Chaisse, L Choukroune and S Jusoh Handbook of International Investment Law and Policy (Springer, 2021) isbn: 9789811336164, €519,99 (hardback)","authors":"Z.J. Jennifer Lim","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125133453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How to Enforce the Achmea Judgment – Tools for EU Member States before, during and after Investment Arbitration Proceedings Brought by an Investor from Another EU Member State","authors":"T. Rusche","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601016","url":null,"abstract":"Arbitration tribunals, in particular those established under the ICSID Convention, refuse to adhere to the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Achmea. Are EU Member States at their mercy? So goes the story presented at conferences and roadshows, as well as in academic publications, which often point to the special protection that ICSID awards enjoy pursuant to Articles 53 and 54 of the ICSID Convention (this element is also often recalled by ICSID tribunals in awards in reaction to arguments based on Union law, in particular the unenforceability of intra-EU awards). This article sets out effective weapons that EU Member States may deploy prior to, during, and after the arbitration procedure, in order to enforce effectively the judgment in Achmea.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"47 9","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120819943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Renewed Role of States in Investment Arbitration – Report of the 6th EFILA Annual Conference 2021","authors":"Malcolm Robach, Velislava Hristova","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601015","url":null,"abstract":"The 6th EFILA Annual Conference dedicated to “The Renewed Role of States in Arbitration” was hosted virtually by Herbert Smith Freehills on 14 and 15 January 2021. The first panel kicked off the Conference by discussing “The Renewed role of States in Arbitration”. This was followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Gary Born on the “Multilateral Investment Court”. The second panel then debated the points raised by the keynote. The second day of the Conference began with a panel on the “Toolbox of States against Claimants” and was followed by a panel on “Best Practices for Defending Investor-State Damage Claims on Quantum”. This report provides an overview of each of the panel discussions as well as the keynote speech. The 6th EFILA Annual Conference, which took place online on 14 and 15 January 2021, was devoted to the theme “The Renewed Role of States in Arbitration”. The Conference was introduced by Prof. Loukas Mistelis (Queen Mary University of London and EFILA). In his opening remarks, Prof. Mistelis observed that a debate on the legitimacy of investment arbitration has developed in the past 15 years. He noted that States are progressively seeking to regain the primary role in the investment law-making and dispute resolution processes, and EFILA is attentive to this trend.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"137 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124474403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main Is the First European Court to Declare the Achmea Case a Landmark Decision with Significance for All Intra-EU BITS","authors":"Philipp Stompfe","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601013","url":null,"abstract":"In February 2021, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main (Oberlandesgericht – “olg”), rendered a decision in the case between the Republic of Croatia (“Croatia”) as the applicant, and an Austrian bank incorporated as a joint stock company under Austrian law and a Croatian bank incorporated as a joint stock company under the laws of Croatia having the Austrian bank as its sole shareholder as the Respondents (“Respondents”). This decision concerns the incompatibility of an arbitration clause contained in the Agreement between the Republic of Austria and Croatia on the Promotion and Protection of Investments (“Austria-Croatia bit”)2 with EU law. Croatia successfully challenged the admissibility of an uncitral arbitration based on Article 9(2)(b) of the Austria- Croatia bit, initiated by the Respondents, by virtue of an application under Section 1032(2) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung – “zpo”). Croatia argued that Article 9(2)(b) of the Austria- Croatia bit was incompatible with EU law.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116351922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"States’ and Investors’ Views on ISDS Reforms – Closer than One Would Expect","authors":"G. Rao, Caroline J. Croft","doi":"10.1163/24689017_0601017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24689017_0601017","url":null,"abstract":"The ISDS regime has received a number of criticisms in the last 15 years, which has led to the current reform efforts under the uncitral Working Group III. Unfortunately, investors do not have any concrete representation in that process, hence the need to fill this gap. In this context, in 2020 the School of International Arbitration at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London (QM), conducted a survey on investors’ views on the reform process (QM survey). This article uses the findings of the QM survey to compare States’ and investors’ views on the reform process. Despite being often represented as two conflicting and irreconcilable views, they are closer than one would expect. In light of this, it concludes by suggesting how one can use the QM survey results to focus reform efforts and achieve better results for all stakeholders.","PeriodicalId":164842,"journal":{"name":"European Investment Law and Arbitration Review Online","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115195297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}