Recently, in a decision issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the case of Slovak Republic v. Achmea, intra-EU bilateral investment treaties’ (“BIT”) arbitration clauses were declared to be in violation of governing European Union (“EU”) law and therefore illegal. The court stated “that the arbitration clause in the BIT [between Slovakia and the…
Tag: European Union
An Overview of the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
The European Union-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA), a bilaterally beneficial trade agreement, was finally implemented on November 20, 2019, after ten years of negotiations. Talks began in 2009, with the Good and Services negotiations and investment protection negotiations ending in 2012 and 2014, respectively. EUSFTA was signed in October 2018, and approved by the European…
Arbitration in the United Kingdom after Brexit: For Better or For Worse?
The United Kingdom has been working to officially remove itself from the European Union since 2017, in an ongoing political effort commonly known as “Brexit.” This separation arises from several goals, including granting the United Kingdom the ability to act more freely in its legal system and overall lawmaking. What impact will this have on…
The Achmea Judgment and its Repercussions
On January 15, 2019, a group of distinguished arbitrators, practitioners, and academics got together at American University Washington College of Law to discuss the most important decisions involving States in 2018. While the event consisted of two panels — one on disputes between States and the other on investor-State disputes — there was a decision…
The Arbitration Brief 