High-profile coal phase-out intra-EU arbitration discontinued

As we reported earlier, in 2021, the German energy company RWE filed for a controversial ECT arbitration challenging the Netherlands’ coal phase-out. In the context of the arbitration, the Netherlands filed an anti-arbitration action in Germany, basing its objection on the intra-EU argument, leading to a Cologne court decision granting the Netherlands an anti-arbitration declaration. Germany’s Supreme Court upheld this decision, affirming the use of Section 1032(2) of the ZPO—the German Civil Procedure Act—despite the ICSID Convention’s alleged exclusivity. Facing these rulings, RWE opted to discontinue the ICSID case, with the Netherlands consenting. This discontinuance follows a similar move by Uniper earlier.