Investment Arbitration in Eastern Europe - Chapter 6 - Essays on International Arbitration
Kaj Hobér is a Partner of Mannheimer Swartling, resident Stockholm office and Professor of East European Commercial Law at Uppsala University, Uppsala. His practice areas include: international arbitration, East European law, international investment and trade, international business transactions. He has been heavily involved in the legal aspects of doing business in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union for the last 20 years. His arbitration experience includes representing both eastern and western European, American and Russian parties as well as parties from developing countries in international arbitrations taking place in Stockholm, Moscow, London, Paris, New York, Vienna and elsewhere. Mr. Hobér has also been involved in numerous oil arbitrations, relating primarily to northern Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union and has acted as arbitrator in more than 150 international arbitrations (including chairmanships) and as counsel in approximately 150 international arbitrations.
Professional memberships include: member of the Swedish Bar Association; member of the American Bar Association; member of the Board of the Swedish Scientific Institute of Arbitration Law, the Board of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, the International Arbitration Club (London) and member of the ICC Institute of International Business and Law (corresponding member). He has been listed as arbitrator on the panels of the Austrian Federal Chamber of Commerce, Vienna, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, Moscow, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, Kiev, the American Arbitration Association and of the ICSID Arbitration Center, Washington DC. He is also a Commissioner at the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva.
Originally from Essays on International Arbitration
During the last 5–8 years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of arbitrations, involving states and state entities. No official statistics are available to confirm this statement, but this is certainly the general perception of arbitration lawyers in most parts of the world. As I see it, this is the result of two overlapping and interdependent developments, i.e., the transformation of the political and economic systems in Eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union, and the significant increase in so-called investment arbitrations.
As far as Eastern Europe is concerned the most dramatic aspect is perhaps the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulting, inter alia, in more than a dozen new States. All the former republics of the Soviet Union have now become independent States. All of them are now participants in international trade and finance, albeit to varying degrees. The new States and their State owned entities are actively trying to entice foreign investments into their economies, in particular in the oil and gas sectors and with respect to other natural resources. The opening up of the economies of Eastern Europe has made such markets much more interesting for foreign investors than was the case in the past. Many of the new States and East European countries have signed bilateral investment protection treaties (“BITs”) as well as other treaties addressing other aspects of foreign investment. Such investment treaties often include arbitration provisions which allow investors to initiate arbitration proceedings against the host State.
6. Investment Arbitration in Eastern Europe: Recent Cases on Expropriation
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Expropriation
6.3 Current state of International Law with respect to Expropriation
6.4 The Minimum International Standard
6.5 Bilateral Investment Protection Treaties
6.6 The Sedelmayer Case
6.7 The 1998 Financial Crisis in Russia
6.8 The Land Use Permit Case
6.9 The SwemBalt Case
6.10 Golden Shares in Russian Companies
6.11 The Estonian Bank Licence Case
6.12 The Lauder Cases
6.13 The Energy Charter Treaty
6.14 The First ECT Arbitral Award
6.15 Concluding remarks