Squire Patton Boggs has secured a significant victory for the Slovak Republic in EuroGas Inc. et al. v. The Slovak Republic at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The case, filed in 2014, was brought by alleged investors in the US and Canada against the Slovak Republic under the US-Slovak Bilateral Investment Treaty and the US-Canada Bilateral Investment Treaty. Their claim was that the Slovak Republic wrongfully terminated their rights to the largest talc mine in the world. Following a five-day hearing on jurisdiction and the merits in Paris in September 2016, the tribunal has now concluded that it has no jurisdiction over the claimants' claims, dismissing all the claimants' claims and issuing an award in favor of the Slovak Republic.
This is the second major investment treaty arbitration in which Squire Patton Boggs has successfully represented the Slovak Republic. The earlier case, Achmea B.V. v. The Slovak Republic (ICSID), also resulted in a complete dismissal of claims against the Slovak Republic. The firm is now representing the client in a third major investment treaty arbitration in Spółdzielnia Pracy “Muszynianka” v. The Slovak Republic (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law).
The firm has also successfully represented other Eastern European countries in recent arbitrations. These include InterTrade Holding GmbH v. the Czech Republic (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law), ECE Projektmanagement International GmbH v. the Czech Republic (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) and Phoenix Action Ltd. v. the Czech Republic (ICSID).
Team leader Stephen Anway said: "We are delighted by this victory, which is the result of the outstanding work of lawyers from six different offices working seamlessly with an incredibly talented and dedicated client team at the Slovak Ministry of Finance."