LISBON ARBITRATION

[1] As is generally known, by the Achmea decision dated 6 March 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that the arbitration clause included in the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) entered into between the Netherlands and the former Czechoslovakia in 1991 (Netherlands-SlovakiaBIT) is incompatible with European Union (EU) law. However, as it is also known, the relevance of this case goes well beyond its facts and the amounts in dispute. What were the practical...

According to most laws and regulations regarding arbitration, the parties may freely agree on the rules governing the proceedings and, in the absence of such agreement, the arbitral tribunal defines and conducts the arbitral proceedings under the rules that it considers appropriate [1] . The arbitral tribunal has, typically, broad discretion and room for flexibility when conducting the arbitral proceedings, within certain limits: firstly, the boundaries arising from the agreement of the...