Archive for category: News

On 28 July 2014, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has published awards from three cases involving former shareholders of OAO Yukos Oil Company (Yukos) and the Russian Federation.

The cases, which commenced in 2005 under the Energy Charter Treaty of 1994, were heard together before the same arbitral tribunals composed of The Hon. L. Yves Fortier PC CC OQ QC (Canada – Chairman), Dr. Charles Poncet (Switzerland) and Judge Stephen M. Schwebel (USA).

The arbitral tribunal has found that the action taken by the Russian Federation amounted to an expropriation of shareholders’ investments in Yukos in breach of Article 13(1) of the Energy Charter Treaty.

The tribunal granted over USD 50 bn to the claimants, which constitutes the highest award ever in the history of investment arbitration.

The awards in the Yukos case prove the value and the benefits of ISDS for investors whose investments have been damaged by measures inconsistent with the international legal obligations and who were unable to pursue their rights before the courts of the host State.

The award also proves that ISDS proceedings provide the only available relief for investors against countries which act unpredictable and violate their international obligations. It is these kind of awards that underline the continued importance of independent, impartial and effective dispute settlement.

Finally, the award shows the expertise of the arbitral tribunal in its extensive analysis of more than 600 pages, which illustrates that investment arbitral tribunals can deliver judicial decisions of the highest quality.

A great day for the Rule of Law.

The awards are available on the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The UK government  has published a report in support of the TTIP in response to the to the House of Lords European Union Committee’s Fourteenth Report entitled ‘The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’. Part 2 of the government’s report responds to myths and misconceptions about the TTIP.

The Government’s report is available here.

For the House of Lords European Union Committee’s Fourteenth Report, please click here.

On Saturday 12 July 2014 EFILA has submitted its response to the EU Commission’s consultation on investment protection and investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP). The EFILA’s response is available here.

The European Federation for Investment and Arbitration (EFIA) has commenced its activities on 1 July 2014.  EFIA will serve as the main voice of the investment arbitration users community, including the EU Member States, investors and providers of legal services, at the European level, to advocate for the highest level of protection for all European investors in future International Investment Agreements signed by the European Union.

Designated S-G of EFILA, Nikos Lavranos, spoke at GAR live event in Frankfurt. He argued that the adoption of the US model BIT will lead to more control over arbitral tribunals by contracting parties, thereby reducing the independence of arbitral tribunals and thus the usefulness of investment arbitration for resolving disputes between investors and states.

 

To read a report  from the event, please click here.