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 […]
A foreign State’s express waiver of immunity from execution allows a creditor from the State to attach a tax receivable at the registered office in France of the person liable for payment
Where State’s assets are not specifically used or intended to be used in the exercise of diplomatic or consular missions, the State’s express waiver of immunity from execution is sufficient for the assets in question to be subject to an execution measure, regardless of their fiscal nature, and without the need for a special waiver. […]
Conciliation mandatory for disputes under €5,000
Decree no. 2023-357 dated 11 May 2023 reinstates article 750-1 of the Code of Civil Procedure and makes it mandatory, on pain of inadmissibility of the claim, for parties to attempt conciliation with a court-appointed conciliator before any claim on the merits for payment of a sum of less than €5,000 or in case of […]
Investment arbitration in EU: excess of power and jurisdiction under Article 26 ECT
An arbitral tribunal’s finding that it has jurisdiction under Article 26 of the Energy Charter Treaty in a dispute between EU investors and an EU Member State does not manifestly exceed its powers pursuant to Article 52(1)(b) of the ICSID Convention. On 2 March 2023, an ad hoc committee rendered a decision on a request […]
Investment arbitration in EU: could choosing London as the seat of arbitration revive a defunct intra-EU BIT?
In a judgment dated 8 March 2023, the Amsterdam District Court opened the door to the question of whether choosing London as the seat of arbitration could revive an intra-EU BIT now prohibited by the Commission, the Member States and the ECJ. The Netherlands and Poland terminated, effective 2 February 2019, the BIT that had […]