2008年，荷兰Achmea公司对斯洛伐克提起投资仲裁程序，理由是斯洛伐克的医疗保险市场禁令违反了荷兰与斯洛伐克两国签署的双边条约（以下简称”荷斯条约”）并造成了其经济损失。2012年，仲裁庭做出有利Achmea公司的裁决。斯洛伐克随后以荷斯条约中的仲裁条款违反了《欧盟运作条约》为由向德国法院上诉要求撤销该裁决。由于涉及欧盟法，德国法院将案件提交欧盟最高法院 ̶ 欧洲法院审议。

2018年3月6日，欧洲法院判定：荷斯条约中包含的投资仲裁条款违反了欧盟法（以下简称”Achmea判决”）。目前，欧盟内共有196个双边条约，它们几乎都规定了类似的仲裁条款。因此，Achmea判决意味着，投资者可能无法再引用欧盟双边条约来保护其在另一个欧盟国家的投资利益。此外，Achmea判决还可能影响现有投资仲裁裁决的执行效力，如果这些裁决也是依据欧盟双边条约做出的。

9月20日，Heiko Heppner律师将向来宾详细介绍Achmea判决和它的背景；深入分析Achmea判决对国际仲裁可能造成的影响；鉴于Achmea判决可能带来的负面效力，他将分享如何保护外国投资者诉诸投资仲裁的权利。

On March 6, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) rendered a judgment in the case of the Slovak Republic v Achmea B.V., C284/16 (the “Achmea Judgment”), following a request for a preliminary ruling from the German Federal Court of Justice concerning an application for annulment of the final award in the Achmea v Slovakia arbitration.

The Achmea Judgment deals with the compatibility of arbitration provisions in intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties (the “Intra-EU BITs”) with EU law. The CJEU held that the arbitration provision contained in the Netherlands-Slovak BIT is incompatible with EU law. As a result of this ruling, there is a risk that all or the vast majority of 196 intra-EU BITs, which contain similar arbitration provisions, may no longer be invoked by European investors against EU member states. Furthermore, the Achmea Judgment may affect the enforcement of awards rendered in previous arbitrations pursued under Intra-EU BITs, or at lease cast some doubts of their enforcement.

During this presentation, Mr. Heiko Heppner will provide some details and background information on the Achmea Judgment. He will then analyze the potential impacts of this judgment on international arbitration, and investment arbitration in particular. Last but not least, Mr. Heppner will share his views on how to protect the right to investment arbitration for the investors whose such right may be infringed by the Achmea Judgment.