The German Bond Act, the Frankfurt Court of Appeals, Q-Cells and Pfleiderer: The Case for Legislative Reform

The Frankfurt Court of Appeal’s rulings on the German Bond Act in the Q-Cells and Pfleiderer matters has resulted in two high-profile insolvency filings. Must these cases lead to a change of legislation?  Frankfurt’s Institute for Law and Finance has organized a one-day conference dealing with the impact of the court’s decisions on the law and legal practice. The first presentation’s title sets the agenda: “Can the German Bond Act be Rescued? (“Ist das Schuldverschreibungsgesetz noch zu retten?”). The conference will be held on June 28, 2012.

Careers and Continuities: The German Federal Ministry and its Third Reich Past

In 2005, then Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer established an independent commission of historians to investigate the history of the Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) during the Nazi era and the early postwar period – the first minister to do so. The commission’s findings were published in 2010, and “Das Amt und die Vergangenheit. Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik” (The Foreign Office and the Past: German Diplomats in the Third Reich and the Federal Republic) was widely discussed and became something like a bestseller. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the Federal Minster of Justice, has now taken a similar step and established a commission to research her ministry’s Third Reich past.   Continue reading

Frankfurt Court of Appeals Upholds Arbitration Clause in BIT Arbitration – Eureko v. Slovak Republic

In a judgment last week, the Frankfurt Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) found against the Slovak Republic, and confirmed an arbitral award in favour of the validity of an arbitration clause in a bi-lateral investment treaty (BIT). The court held that a Dutch health insurance provider was entitled to commence arbitration proceedings against the Slovak Republic in relation to alleged breaches of the BIT.  Both the tribunal and the court dismissed the Slovak’s argument that its membership in the EU deprived the tribunal of jurisdiction.

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