Intra-EU Investment Arbitration: Frankfurt Court of Appeals Finds BIT-Based Arbitration Inadmissible

An Austrian and a Croatian bank commenced arbitral proceedings against the Republic of Croatia seeking damages on the basis of the 1999 Agreement between the Republic of Austria and the Republic of Croatia for the Promotion and Protection on Investments (BIT); the arbitral tribunal was to be seated in Frankfurt am Main. Croatia applied to the Frankfurt Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) to find that the arbitral proceedings were inadmissible (Sec. 1032 para. 2 German Code of Civil Procedure, ZPO). Croatia relied on the 2018 Achmea decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – the well-known case which also originated in the Frankfurt Court of Appeals and came to the ECJ via a reference from the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof). Continue reading

The Termination of Bilateral Investment Treaties in the EU – One Agreement to End Them All?

My colleagues Nick Storrs and Michael Wietzorek look at the EU memberstates’ exit from bi-lateral investment treaties (BITs) in the wake of the Achmea decision of the European Court of Justice. This case had several appearances on this blog, as it made its way from the Frankfurt Court of Appeals (Oberlandesgericht) and the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) to the European Court of Justice, first under its original name, Slovakia v. Eureko. 

On 5 May 2020, 23 Member States of the EU entered into an Agreement for the Termination of Bilateral Investment Treaties between the Member States of the European Union (the Agreement). The Agreement will terminate any bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in force between any of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, as well as Belgium and Luxembourg, who had entered into BITs together as the Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union.

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15th Frankfurt Roundtable on Investment Law and Investment Treaty Arbitration, 12 November 2019

The Frankfurt Roundtable on Investment Law and Investment Treaty Arbitration is taking place on 12 November 2019 and celebrating its 15th anniversary. As always, the event is organized by Alfred Escher and Jan Schäfer – congratulations!

The litigators are discussing the establishment of International Commercial Courts (for example at next week’s IBA Conference in Milan), and the investment arbitration community ponders the establishment of a Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). Just a coincidence? The MIC is on the agenda, as are human rights, and – almost inevitably – Brexit. Here’s a link to the full programme: Gesprächskreis Investitionsrecht und -schiedsgerichtsbarkeit 2019.

12th Frankfurt Roundtable on Investment Law and Investment Treaty Arbitration, November 14, 2016

Logo_FIACThis year’s Frankfurt Roundtable on Investment Law and Investment Treaty Arbitration (Gesprächskreis Investitionsrecht und – Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit) is held on November 14, 2015. As always, Alfred Escher and Jan Schäfer are organizing the event in conjunction with the Frankfurt International Arbitration Center. Continue reading