Arbitration Notes

CJEU CONFIRMS THAT CETA DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROVISION IS COMPATIBLE WITH EU LAW

Advocate General finds that CETA's "Investment Court System" is compatible with EU law

One of the Advocates General to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Advocate General Bot, has issued an opinion confirming that the mechanism for …

The new draft Dutch BIT: what does it mean for investor mailbox companies?

The Netherlands has released a new draft investment treaty for public comment ("Draft BIT").  If adopted, the Draft BIT may raise questions about …

EU Council publishes Negotiating Directives for Convention establishing a Multilateral Investment Court: no real surprises but a couple of gaps

On 20 March, 2018 the Council of the European Union published negotiating directives dated 1 March 2018 authorizing the European Commission to negotiate …

Belgium asks for the CJEU's opinion on the compatibility of the Investment Court System with European Law

On 6 September 2017 the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders submitted a request from Belgium to the Court of …

Enforcement and dispute resolution under the Withdrawal Agreement and any future relationship agreement: no role for the CJEU….or is there?

On its face, the thrust of the UK Government's Future Partnership Paper on Enforcement and Dispute Resolution (the Paper), published on 23 August, is to …

EU - Japan Economic Partnership Agreement announced

On 6 July 2017 the EU and Japan announced an agreement in principle on their Economic Partnership Agreement ("EPA").  The scale of this agreement is …

Is there an inherent tension between the EU's investment court system and the EU legal order?

As discussed in our previous blog posts here and here, the EU has introduced a new system to resolve disputes arising between investors and …

The European Court of Justice renders its opinion on the EU-Singapore free trade agreement: investment chapter is not within EU's exclusive competence

On 16 May, 2017 the European Court of Justice (the Court) rendered its Opinion on the competence of the European Union to conclude the Free Trade …

Herbert Smith Freehills' Response to EU Consultation: the Future of Investor-State Dispute Settlement

As discussed in our blog post here, on 21 December 2016 the EU Commission launched a public consultation on the multilateral reform of the …

EU launches consultation on multilateral reform of the investor-state dispute resolution system

The EU Commission (the Commission) has launched a public consultation on the multilateral reform of the investment dispute settlement system.  The …

CETA UPDATE: CETA is signed; Provisional application of CETA and Brexit; First government-to-government meeting to discuss establishing the multi-lateral investment court system

On 30 October 2016, the EU and Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (the CETA).  As explained in our blog post here, the …