Arbitration Tribunal in Paris fully rejects CEAC's request

An ad hoc committee, established at the Arbitration Tribunal of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Paris, issued a decision rejecting the CEAC's request for the annulment of the ICSID arbitration decision that was adopted in favour of Montenegro in July 2016.

The decision further strengthens the ICSID arbitration decision against CEAC of July 2016, given the fact that the CEAC exhausted all legal remedies.

Due to the fact that all CEAC requirements have been rejected, CEAC is obliged to bear all the costs of the proceedings, including the costs of Montenegro. The attainment of representation costs, which is not often common in the proceedings of this kind, confirms the correctness of Montenegro's conduct in this case.

We reiterate that the decision in this proceeding was made on 26 July 2016 and that the Tribunal concluded that CEAC did not have a "seat" in Cyprus, i.e., that it did not meet the conditions for "investor" under Article 1 (3) (b) of the foreign investment protection agreement with Cyprus. The Tribunal then also obliged the CEAC to bear all the costs of the proceedings, including the costs of Montenegro.

Following the decision of the Tribunal, CEAC initiated the annulment of the arbitration decision and requested the postponement of the execution of an arbitration decision until the adjournment of the request for annulment. An ad hoc committee was established, and the proceeding was conducted until the final decision has been adopted in favour of Montenegro at the beginning of this month.

We also recall that at the beginning of 2017, the UNCITRAL Arbitral Tribunal in Vienna, in the arbitration procedure against the State of Montenegro, rejected all CEAC's claims and decided that Montenegro had not violated the Settlement Agreement.

The decisions, as well as the preparation of the defence in proceedings, show that Montenegro seriously understands its international obligations and that, in compliance with international law, it protects its rights and interests when faced with ungrounded allegations.

MINISTRY OF ECONOMY