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RECONCILING INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT LAW AND EUROPEAN UNION LAW IN THE WAKE OF ACHMEA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
Abstract
The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Slovak Republic v Achmea dealt a major blow to the predictability of the legal regime for the protection of foreign investments, whilst failing to offer a realistic, clear and sustainable solution for the protection of investments within the European single market. Commentators have mainly considered its implications from the perspective of the European Union or International Investment Law, and the potential conflict of regimes. This article offers a different approach, arguing that a reading of Achmea based on a moderate version of legal pluralism could adequately respond to the legitimate concerns about the case from both international and European legal perspectives. It is argued that the imprecision of the decision is in fact constructive ambiguity, allowing a sufficient margin of appreciation for all stakeholders and avoiding direct confrontation between the European and international legal orders. Recent developments, such as the innovative EU agreement for the termination of intra-EU BITs, point to new opportunities for ordering pluralism in the Achmea saga.
Keywords
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- Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press for the British Institute of International and Comparative Law
Footnotes
We are very grateful to Olivier Caprasse, Zachariah Davies, Léonore De Mullewie, Katia Fach Gómez, Zachariah Davies, Léonore De Mullewie, Florence Humblet, Erica Stein and Catharine Titi who provided comments to previous versions of this article. All remaining errors, mistakes and controversial points of view remain our own, and do not represent the views of our institutions or employers.
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131 GPF v Poland, para 346.
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137 ibid, para 473. For similar conclusions on the hierarchy of international norms from an EU perspective, see von Papp (n 20) 341. The CJUE reasoned similarly in the cases of Commission v Austria and Commission v Sweden related to BITs concluded with third countries prior to accession. See Case C-205/06, Commission v Austria [2009] ECR I-1301 and C-249/06 Commission v Kingdom of Sweden [2009] ECR I-1335.
138 ibid, para 474.
139 McElhinney v Ireland ECHR 2001-XI 37, para 36; see also, Al-Adsani v the United Kingdom, ECHR 2001-XI 79, para 55; Bankovic v Belgium and others ECHR 2001-XII 333, para 57.
140 ILC Fragmentation Report, para 438.
141 ibid, para 474.
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149 Vattenfall v Germany, para 91; Greentech v Italy, paras 267–271; UP and CD v Hungary, para 239; Marfin v Germany, para 583.
150 UP and CD v Hungary, para 265, considering arguments of termination and priority together, that a survival clause contained in the France-Hungary BIT would render.
151 Special Rapporteur Sir H Waldock, ‘Second Report on the Law of Treaties’ (1963) II UNYBILC 38, 53.
152 The Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions (Judgment No 2) PCIJ Series A No 2, 31.
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159 Vattenfall v Germany, para 217.
160 von der Decken (n 153) 548.
161 ‘Draft Articles on the Law of Treaties with Commentaries’ (1966) II UNYBILC 187, 214–6.
162 Greentech v Italy, para 351.
163 Marfin v Germany, para 584; UP and CD v Hungary, para 265; GPF v Poland, para 369.
164 GPF v Poland, para 364.
165 UP and CD v Hungary, para 218; Marfin v Germany, paras 583–591; Theodoros Adamakopoulos and Others v Republic of Cyprus, ICSID Case No ARB/15/49, Decision on Jurisdiction (7 February 2020) para 143.
166 See, for example, Achmea Award on Jurisdiction, paras 231–267; EURAM v Slovakia, v paras 153–238.
167 Theodoros Adamakopoulos and Others v Republic of Cyprus, ICSID Case No ARB/15/49, Statement of Dissent of Marcelo G. Kohen (3 February 2020) para 10.
168 Declaration of the Member States of 15 January 2019 (n 35).
169 Eskosol S.P.A. v Italy, ICSID Case No ARB/15/50, Decision on Italy's request for immediate termination and Italy's jurisdictional objection based on inapplicability of the ECT to intra-EU disputes (7 May 2019) para 39.
170 ibid, para 40.
171 ibid, paras 207–235.
172 Vattenfall v Germany, para 148.
173 GPF v Poland, para 344.
174 Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v Democratic Republic of the Congo) (Merits) (Judgment) [2010] ICJ Rep 639.
175 Achmea Award on Jurisdiction, para 59.
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180 ibid, para 162.
181 Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Qatar v United Arab Emirates), Order of 23 July 2018, Joint Declaration of Judges Tomka, Gaja and Gevorgian, para 5: ‘It would be difficult to give weight to this view of the CERD Committee since it gives no reason for its interpretation … .’
182 Such as by virtue of a preliminary ruling referred to it by the court of a Member State by virtue of art 267 TFEU. The Svea Court of Appeal in the case concerning Spain v Novenergia may indeed be the first to do so (Case No T 4658-18).
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185 Griffiths (n 63) 4.
186 Twining (n 61) 84.
187 Amariles, DR, ‘Le droit comme instrument de progrès? Sur l'idée d'ingénierie juridique’ in Bricteux, C and Frydman, B (eds), Les défis du droit global (Bruylant 2017) 255Google Scholar.
188 Callies, G and Zumbansen, P, Rough Consensus and Running Code: A Theory of Transnational Private Law (Hart 2012) 144–5Google Scholar.
189 Termination Treaty, arts 8–9.
190 Declaration of the Member States of 15 January 2019 (n 35).
191 Electrabel v Hungary, para 4.167.
192 ibid, paras 4.143–144.
193 Unfortunately, this logic has been used to justify the conclusion that art 30 VCLT is inapplicable to the conflict between intra-EU BITs and the EU Treaties; see, for example, GPF v Poland, para 366.
194 See Kleinheisterkamp, J, ‘Investment Treaty Law and the Fear for Sovereignty: Transnational Challenges and Solutions’ (2015) 78 MLR 793CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Herdegen (n 56) 9. On the question of the protection of the Rule of Law, W Sadowski, ‘Protection of the Rule of Law in the European Union through Investment Treaty Arbitration: Is Judicial Monopolism the Right Response to Illiberal Tendencies in Europe?' (2018) 55 CMLRev 1025.
195 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on Protection of intra-EU Investment (Communication, COM 547, 2018).
196 See Submission of the EU and Its Member States to UNCITRAL Working Group III, ‘Establishing a Standing Mechanism for the Settlement of International Investment Disputes’ (18 January 2019).
197 Franck, S, ‘The Legitimacy Crisis in Investment Treaty Arbitration: Privatizing Public International Law through Inconsistent Decisions’ (2005) 73 FordhamLRev 1521Google Scholar; G Kaufmann-Kohler and M Potestà, ‘Can the Mauritius Convention Serve as a Model for the Reform of Investor-State Arbitration in Connection with the Introduction of a Permanent Investment Tribunal or an Appeal mechanism? – Analysis and Roadmap’ (2016) CIDS – Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement.
198 Brower, C, ‘Doomed to Failure: Why the EU Investment Court System Is Destined to Fail Both Foreign Investors and Host States – 3rd Annual EFILA Conference Keynote’ (2018) 3 European Investment Law and Arbitration Review 317CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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