Topic: Achmea

An ICSID tribunal has refused to throw out an Irish renewables group’s Energy Charter Treaty claim against Germany on an expedited basis in light of the European Court of Justice’s recent ruling on intra-EU arbitration in Komstroy.

20 January 2022

Lithuania’s Supreme Court has ruled that the country’s energy ministry is not barred from pursuing a €240 million lawsuit against French environmental services group Veolia in local courts due to a pending ICSID claim, citing European Court of Justice case law on the invalidity of intra-EU BITs.

19 January 2022

In a keynote lecture, Austrian arbitrator and academic Christoph Schreuer addressed the concept of the unity of an investment and its use in investor-state case law. Jaroslav Kudrna and Martin Nováček of the Czech Ministry of Finance report.

13 January 2022

An ICSID tribunal has refused to reconsider its jurisdiction to hear an Energy Charter Treaty case brought by four German banks against Spain – one of the first arbitral decisions to address the effect of the European Court of Justice’s recent ruling in Komstroy.

06 December 2021

The European Commission has launched infringement proceedings against seven EU member states over their failure to terminate their intra-EU bilateral investment treaties, also threatening a potential ECJ case against one state.

03 December 2021

The German Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of a ruling that prevents an Austrian bank from pursuing an intra-EU BIT arbitration against Croatia in light of the Achmea decision.

03 December 2021

An ICSID tribunal has ordered Spain to pay a Japanese investor over €23.5 million plus interest and costs after finding that changes to the state’s renewable energy regime frustrated its legitimate expectations.

25 November 2021

The European Court of Justice has ruled that EU member states are prohibited from entering into ad hoc arbitration agreements identical to those in intra-EU BITs – suggesting that contract-based investor-state dispute settlement is unlikely to escape the impact of Achmea.

26 October 2021

A Lithuanian businessman has dropped his ICSID claim against Denmark, saying the Achmea judgment and the agreement by EU member states to terminate their intra-EU BITs have “severely impeded” the arbitration and prospects for enforcement.

21 October 2021

An ICSID committee has upheld the last of three intra-EU BIT awards in favour of French voucher companies against Hungary, ruling that a tribunal was within its rights to conclude the Achmea decision had no bearing on its jurisdiction.

21 October 2021