European Union: Towards a Simultaneous Withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty
Following the withdrawal of several European countries, including France, from the Energy Charter Treaty, the European Commission has submitted a proposal for a simultaneous withdrawal by all the Member States of the European Union. This is mainly the result of failed efforts to modernize the Energy Charter Treaty. The European Commission has called on the […]
The Hague Judgments Convention now in force within the European Union
The Hague Judgments Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters, which aims to facilitate global recognition of court decisions, has entered into force in the European Union on 1 September 2023. The Hague Convention of 2 July 2019 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil […]
The UNCITRAL Code of Conduct for Arbitrators in International Investment Dispute Resolution Is Approved
At the last session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, held in Vienna from 3 to 21 July 2023, Member states approved a Code of Conduct for arbitrators sitting in both ICSID and UNCITRAL investment proceedings. Although the final text has yet to be published, the new Code will regulate the practice […]
Latest news on duty of care
We organised a breakfast session this month on the expansion of the French duty of care and the resulting litigation risks for companies. This is a hot topic: On 25 May 2023, BPCE, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole were given formal notice by NGOs to stop financing the Swiss company Glencore, which contributes to the […]
Dismissal of an application for exequatur on the ground of a fraud against an arbitration award
Two Italian companies, BEG and Enelpower, signed a cooperation agreement for the construction and operation of a hydroelectric power station in Albania. When Enelpower decided not to go ahead with the project, BEG brought claims for compensation before an arbitration tribunal as per the arbitration clause provided for in the contract. These claims were dismissed […]
Clarification of the interplay between the Vienna Convention of 11 April 1980 on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the liability for defective products
The insurer of an Italian company, subrogated to the latter’s rights, sued a French company and its insurer on the basis of the liability for defective and non-compliant food ingredients, which were then to be incorporated by the purchasing company into its own products. In a ruling dated 21 October 2021 (RG 20/04472), the Versailles […]
Sultan of Sulu Case
Several Philippine nationals have initiated ad hoc arbitration proceedings concerning the interpretation and performance of an agreement concluded in 1878 between the Sultan of Sulu and two European explorers. This agreement, described by the claimants as a “lease agreement” and by Malaysia as a “cession of territory and sovereignty“, covered the territories on the north […]
Spain cannot rely on the Achmea and Komstroy decisions to elude enforcement of an ICSID award in the United Kingdom.
In its decision dated 24 May 2023, the High Court of Justice Business and Property Courts Commercial Court (High Court) refused to set aside an arbitral award based on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) ordering Spain to pay €120 million to the European investor Infrastructure Services Luxembourg and its subsidiary Energia Termosolar (formerly Antin). The […]
EXIT: Internal compliance rules do not form part of the French conception of international public order!
On March 14, 2023, the Versailles Court of Appeal rendered a decision putting an end to the Alstom saga. It confirmed the order dated March 30, 2016, which had granted exequatur to the award dated January 29, 2016. As you will recall, the French and British companies Alstom Transport SA and Alstom Network Ltd. (“Alstom”), […]
An arbitral tribunal that finds that it has jurisdiction under Article 26 of the ECT in a dispute between EU investors and an EU Member State does not commit a manifest excess of power within the meaning of Article 52(1) of the ICSID Convention
In a decision dated 8 May 2023, an ICSID ad hoc Committee ruled on an application to set aside an award made in an arbitration brought under Article 26 of the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) by Baywa R.E. Renewable Energy Gmbh and Baywa R.E. Asset Holding Gmbh against Spain. In its award dated 25 January […]