The European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR“) has delivered three highly anticipated judgments on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights (“Convention“) in the climate change context. Whilst two of the cases were ruled inadmissible on procedural grounds, in the third case it has for the first time found a violation of Convention rights in the climate change context and outlined positive obligations on all States, including the UK, in relation to measures to mitigate climate change. This decision marks a significant development in the approach of the ECtHR and how the Conventi ..read more

On 11 March 2024, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published its most recent Background Paper on the annulment remedy under the ICSID Convention (Background Paper). Now, in its third edition and available here, the Background Paper provides a comprehensive assessment of annulment as well as the drafting history behind the annulment provisions, the practical application of the annulment process and trends in annulment over the past fifty years. Annulment Provided for in Article 52 of the ICSID Convention, annulment offers the only method for challenging an ..read more

The Register of Damage for Ukraine (the Register) opened its claims submission process on 2 April 2024. The Register represents an important effort to document the impact of the conflict and collect and process claims for damages resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The launch of the claims submission process is a pivotal moment in that effort. Moreover, the integration of the Ukrainian government services app and portal, Diia, represents an important example of how digital technology can be employed to facilitate legal processes in the aftermath of conflict. The Register and its go ..read more

The European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) has found that in delaying recognition of an arbitral award against it, the Republic of Albania breached its obligations under Article 6 (Right to a Fair Trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 6(1) states that proceedings must be determined “within a reasonable time”. Iliria SRL (Iliria) spent 17 years and 9 months attempting to obtain legal recognition of an arbitral award in the Albanian domestic courts. After various proceedings in the Tirana Court of Appeal, the Albanian Supreme Court and the Albanian Constitutional ..read more

On 22 February 2024, the UK Government announced that the UK will withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). The withdrawal will take effect one year after the formal receipt of notice by the ECT depositary, which transmits withdrawal notifications to the ECT Secretariat. The ECT modernisation process and the UK’s withdrawal decision The ECT sets out a multilateral framework covering the energy sector which, according to the ECT itself, aims to ensure energy security and facilitate reliable cross-border energy flows amongst its Contracting Parties. The ECT also contains investment protecti ..read more

On 1 February 2024, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) released its caseload statistics for the 2023 calendar year, available here. This blogpost examines the latest trends seen in the 2023 calendar year, as compared to previous years. New cases registered: ISDS has rebounded 57 new cases were registered under ICSID’s rules, which is an increase of 16 new cases compared to 2022. This marks a strong rebound for investor-state arbitration, after some commentators speculated that the dip in 2022 indicated the start of a steady decline in investor-state arbitrat ..read more

The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof – “BGH”) recently allowed the enforcement of an arbitral award rendered in Deutsche Telekom v. India – an investor-State arbitration conducted under the 1995 Germany-India Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”). On Deutsche Telekom’s application, the amount of USD 10 million plus interest (a partial amount of the award) has been confirmed enforceable by the BGH. This follows an ongoing series of case developments in Germany stemming from the Achmea judgment (C-284/16) of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”), which we reported o ..read more

UNCITRAL has published the final texts of its Code of Conduct for Arbitrators in International Investment Disputes (Arbitrators’ Code) and Code of Conduct for Judges in International Investment Disputes (Judges’ Code). The Codes seek to address concerns about the perceived lack of independence and impartiality among international arbitrators and judges by implementing new limitations on the practice known as ‘double-hatting’—where an arbitrator or judge simultaneously serves as legal counsel or expert in other cases. Additionally, the Codes include provisions that establish best practices on m ..read more

We are pleased to share with you the details of the upcoming Conference of the European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration (EFILA), taking place in Frankfurt on Thursday 25 April 2024. After a welcome address by EFILA’s Chair of the Executive Board, Mirjam van de Hel (Partner at NautaDutilh), Professor Dr. Mathias Wolkewitz (General Counsel of Wintershall Dea) will deliver the keynote speech. This will be followed by two panel sessions, the first of which is on “Domestic courts and the review of awards: recent trends”. HSF Partner Dr. Patricia Nacimiento will be speaking on the seco ..read more

In October last year, the European Commission released a Non-Paper on Model Clauses with Annotations for EU Member States’ negotiation of bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) with third countries. Non-papers do not communicate an official position of the Commission. The Model Clauses are not an official ‘EU Model BIT’ but suggestions for Member States’ BITs. The Model Clauses provide for investment protection within an EU framework. We provide a brief overview of key provisions in this Note. In line with the CJEU’s Achmea Judgment (our German coverage here), the Model Clauses state that wher ..read more