Federal Supreme Court: Sedelmayer vs. Russia – No Set-off with Tax Claims

stock-photo-15986220-sign-quot-bundesgerichtshof-quotThis decision published by the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) a couple of days ago on its website appears to be the latest instalment in the on-going saga of Franz Sedelmayer’s quest to enforce an investment treaty award  against Russia. Of course, the Federal Supreme Court sticks to Germany’s practise of anonymous court reporting. The facts reported in the decision are so unique, however, that it cannot be anything else but the Sedelmayer case.

Franz Sedelmayer was awared damages under the German-Russian Investment treaty in an arbitration seated in Stockholm in 1998, and has spent more than 15 years enforceing it. The details have been reported extensively, see for example, this piece in the New York Times. Continue reading

EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement: Blue Print for a Permanent Investment Dispute Resolution System?

european commissionWhile everyone is busy discussing TTIP and the pro’s and con’s of Investment Arbitration as we know it, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström announced on December 2, 2015 that European Union and Vietnam have concluded the negotiations of a free trade agreement: “The EU and Vietnam finalise landmark trade deal.”

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All About TTIP: 11th Frankfurt Roundtable on Investment Law and Investment Treaty Arbitration, November 4, 2015

 

Frankfurt Court of Appeals Upholds BIT Arbitration Clause Again – Eureko v. Slovak Republic, 2nd Round

We have covered these proceedings between the Slovak Republic and Eureko, a Dutch health insurance provider before. At the heart of the matter is the issue whether European law rendered arbitration clauses in intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (BITs), that is, in BITs between EU member states, inapplicable. To the best of my knowledge these are the first court proceedings addressing the issue: In May 2012, the Frankfurt Court of Appeals upheld an arbitral award that ruled on jurisdiction and arbitrability and held that the tribunal had authority to hear damages claims by Eureko against the Slovak Republic under the Netherlands/Czechoslovakia BIT of 1991. Continue reading