CYIL 2014

UMBRELLA CLAUSE ȃ ADDITIONAL PROTECTION OF INVESTMENT BY CLAUS… neobsahuje výslovné ustanovení v tomto směru, nemůže sama o sobě vyvolat žádnou mezinárodně právní odpovědnost státu, ani povinnost k nějaké nápravě. Proto je jistě nutné věnovat znění doložky při jejím návrhu a formulaci při uzavírání investičních dohod náležitou pozornost. Key words: Umbrella clause, interpretation, recent jurisprudence, obligations arising under investment contract, Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), breach of contract, violation of international law, domestic commercial matter, additional protection of investor, right to claim the responsibility of a state, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (Anglo Iranian Oil Company, AIOC ) 1951. On the Author: JUDr. Vojtěch Trapl, Arbitrator, (www.trapl.cz), is Senior Partner of the Law Office Dr. Trapl a partner advokáti s.r.o. (Ltd.). He specializes in Business Law, International Private Law, IT Law, State Contracts and International Investments (BIT). Arbitrator at the Arbitration Court attached to the Economic Chamber of the Czech Republic and Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic, Member of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Member of London Court of Arbitration in London (until 2013), Arbitrator for the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICAC at the UCCI) in Kiev, Member of DIS (Deutsche Institution für Schiedgerichtsbarkeit) (until 2013), Arbitrator on the ICSID List of Arbitrators by the Czech Republic (2008-2014), Arbitrator on the List of Practitioners with the International Arbitration Court of the Economic Chamber of Austria (VIAC) Vienna, Co-Arbitrator in two investments disputes under UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: Austrian Airlines v Slovak Republic, Final Award on Jurisdiction (October 9, 2009) and Albert Jan Oostergetel, Theodora Laurentius v Slovak Republic, Final Award (23 April 2012), not published. Delegation of the Czech Republic with the UNCITRAL Working Group II on Arbitration and Conciliation since 2000, participating in the work of the Group on transparency in investment arbitration. Introduction The legal status of umbrella clauses is clear, but the interpretation of an umbrella clause as a provision of an investment treaty is in a state of confusion. The language and purpose of the umbrella clause, as follows from the history of jurisprudence and literature, reveals that the interpretation prevails that the umbrella clause extends to all obligations arising under any investment contract concluded between a host State party iure gestionis and an investor of the other State party under athe regime of a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Under general international law, it is unclear whether a state breaching a contract with an investor qualifies per se as a violation of an international obligation. 1 Such 1 Robert Jenings, & Arthur Watts, Oppenheim’s International Law 927 (9th ed. 1992) (“It is doubtful whether a breach by a state of its contractual obligations with aliens constitutes per se a breach of an international obligation…”)

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