Topic: Achmea

John Gaffney, senior counsel at Al Tamimi & Company in Abu Dhabi, revisits the issue of Achmea's effect on international commercial arbitrations involving the interpretation or application of EU law, noting that the recent opinion of Advocate General Szpunar in a case relating to the Energy Charter Treaty does nothing to dispel fears concerning their permissibility.

25 March 2021

An ICSID tribunal hearing a Czech energy conglomerate’s Energy Charter Treaty claim against Bulgaria has refused to throw out the case based on the European Court of Justice ruling in Achmea.

05 March 2021

An advocate general of the European Court of Justice has advised that arbitration of intra-EU investor-state disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty is barred by EU law in light of Achmea, while raising the possibility such claims could be brought in national courts.

03 March 2021

A Swedish court has for the first time agreed to ask the European Court of Justice whether its decision in Achmea bars intra-EU investment disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty.

01 March 2021

After putting paid to intra-EU BITs, it is only a matter of time before the European Commission begins interfering with commercial arbitration, Robert Volterra warned in a keynote speech at GAR Interactive DACH.

26 February 2021

UPDATED: A German court has ruled that a claim brought by two banks against Croatia under an intra-EU bilateral investment treaty is inadmissible in light of the European Court of Justice’s ruling in Achmea.

16 February 2021

Germany’s Constitutional Court has refused to halt the country’s ratification of the agreement to terminate intra-EU BITs while it hears a complaint by Dutch insurer Achmea.

08 February 2021

In the wake of the UK-EU trade deal, practitioners say questions remain over the investment protections in the agreement and the fate of the UK’s bilateral investments treaties with EU member states.

14 January 2021

Belgium has asked the European Court of Justice to weigh in on the intra-EU application of the arbitration provisions in a future update of the Energy Charter Treaty, as the European Commission signals it may propose withdrawal from the treaty if core objectives for reform are not met.

03 December 2020

At a hearing in Luxembourg this week, the EU Commission and a number of member states called on the European Court of Justice to rule on whether the Achmea decision bars intra-EU investment arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty - even though the dispute giving rise to the proceedings is between non-EU parties.

19 November 2020