The validity of bilateral investment treaties concluded between the EU Member States (“intra-EU BITs”) is subject to considerable legal uncertainty. For many years, the European Commission has stressed that such treaties present an anomaly in the internal market, whereby on the other hand, arbitration tribunals have established jurisprudence constante standing up for complementarity of protection under the intra-EU BITs and the EU law. The friction has been given an epilogue in the decision of the EU Court of Justice rendered in the Achmea case, which represents an essential milestone on the question of compatibility of the intra-EU BITs and the EU law. In the judgment rendered in March 2018, the Court found that an arbitration clause contained in an intra-EU BIT contradicts the autonomy of the EU law, which shall result in far-reaching repercussions on investment relations in the EU.
Member States must terminate the intra-EU BITs or modify them in such a way as to exclude the possibility of arbitrating the investment disputes, and must furthermore reject the recognition and enforcement of any new arbitral awards issued on the basis of an intra-EU BIT. After the termination of intra-EU BITs, investors will be deprived of the possibility of raising claims before arbitration tribunals, as domestic courts of the host states will remain the only forum for resolving investment disputes. The substantive legal guarantees contained in intra-EU BITs are comparable to those provided by the EU law, while the ratio between public and private interests is more balanced under EU law. It is still mostly unknown how arbitration tribunals will react to the established inconsistency, however, there are indications are that they are not willing to renounce their competence until the intra-EU BIS stop being applicable, including considering the sunset clauses contained therein. The degree of abstraction in the language of the Court's decision imposes uncertainty also upon the establishment of the investment court system as foreseen by CETA, the future of the multilateral investment court, and the general coherence of the coexistence of the EU law and the international investment law.
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