Despite the Covid 19 situation and the summer break, lot’s of new activities took place and new initatives have been launched. First in-person hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) In September I attended as part of the NautaDutilh legal team, the first in-person arbitration hearing at the PCA. This arbitration relates to an…
23 Member States signed the termination agreement that terminates their intra-EU BITs On 5 May 2020, 23 Member States signed the termination agreement that terminates their intra-EU BITs. Obviously, this will not be helpful in…
Despite the huge impact of the corona crisis, fortunately work has continued at a relatively high level. First and foremost, I am pleased that my article on The changing ecosystem of Dutch BITs has just been published in Arbitration International, arguably one of the best arbitration law reviews. Second, my chapter on The ICS and…
The fate of intra-EU BITs and the new MIC On 30th January 2020 the 5th EFILA Annual Conference took place in London. 150 participants listened to keynote speaker Meg Kennear (SG of ICSID) and discussed alternatives to the intra-EU BITs, which are about to be terminated. The next day, I gave a guest lecture at…
This is the time when we look back and review this year. Despite all the lights and festive atmosphere surrounding Christmas Eve, there is only one conclusion: 2019 marks the entering of the Dark Ages of Protectoinism. Already in November 2016 I had entitled my guest lecture at Innsbruck University “The CETA drama: Entering the…
Q2 of 2019 has been busy again and lots of developments have happened. I have commented on the long-awaited Opinion 1/17 of the Court of Justice of the EU in which it approved the CETA-style Investment Court System (ICS). Here is my blogpost for the Practical Arbitration blog and an earlier version in Borderlex. The…
The first quarter of 2019 has been very busy indeed. Here are some highlights. On 31 January EFILA hosted its 4th Annual Conference in London. More than 100 participants attended the conference. The keynote speaker was Colin Brown of DG Trade focusing on the Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). As Secretary General of EFILA I am…
The past year has been very exciting and successful regarding all my various activities. In this blog I highlight some of the most important developments and achievements and will provide an outlook for 2019. NL-Investmentconsulting’s growing portfolio My legal advisory has been significantly growing over the past work, focusing mainly on intra-EU BIT and intra-EU…
On Thursday, 25 October 2018, Prof. George A. Bermann (Columbia University New York) will deliver the 4th EFILA Annual Lecture. The title is: “Recalibrating the European Union—International Arbitration Interface” Click here to register! On 18 October, the Dutch Arbitration Day will take place in Amsterdam. The theme of this year’s conference will be: Technology and…
After having digested the Achmea judgment, I reflect in this blog, which was published on the Kluwer Arbitration blog, on the possible way forward. The Achmea judgment, passed on the 6th of March 2018, and addressed in the Kluwer blog posts available here and here, prompted us to think about what could be the way…
