The EU Commission launches an in-depth investigation to assess whether the payment of an ICSID arbitral award in favour of Luxembourg and Dutch investors complies with EU rules on State aid (Antin)

Key Takeaways International investment protection is based on treaty obligations between sovereign states. State parties to those treaties enter into international obligations with one another for the protection of foreign investors and their investments—including the obligation to submit to binding investor-state dispute resolution mechanisms via arbitration. Under such treaties, the domestic legal arrangements of contracting states cannot typically undermine their international law obligations. Indeed, that is a central advantage of foreign investment protection via international treaties. However, the European Commission and Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) consider EU law as “supreme”—not merely part of the domestic legal arrangements of contracting states. As such,