Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is the testing ground for investment arbitration in Europe: the majority of the cases against EU Member States are proceedings launched against countries from the region. Despite their relevance, CEE experiences have not been analysed in a comprehensive manner. This book is the first of its kind to present an extensive collection of case law on investment arbitration within Europe. Contributors provide contextual analysis, taking political, economic and regulatory factors in to account, to create an accessible text for practitioners and scholars alike.
The central conclusion I will make in this paper is that the cycle of development of international commercial arbitration in CEE may be approaching a low mark. The forces that were driving the development of international arbitration in this part of the world before 1989, such as the East-West dichotomy and the subsequent increased commercial, legal, and political risk connected to the "emerging-economy" status of CEE countries, exhausted most of its potential, which is unlikely to rebound. At the present moment, there are no compelling reasons why international arbitration in CEE should flourish. It is clear, however, that its future development will have to respond to the changing needs and preferences of the business community and the individual CEE states, rather than the objectives immediately relied upon after the fall of Communism.This paper starts with a brief historical note explaining the traditional motivations leading commercial parties to agree on international arbitration in the CEE-related business context, both before and after the fall of Communism in 1989. I will present the developments of the past twenty-five years that help explain the current position and potential of international commercial arbitration in CEE. Due to the significant diversity among the countries in the region, I will not offer a detailed analysis of the particular legal frameworks in each individual CEE state. The differences between various national laws within the region do not play a primary role. Instead, I will emphasize the existing and potential interests and reasons that may convince the business community across CEE to use international arbitration to resolve commercial disputes. These enticing factors do not depend as much on the legal particularities of individual CEE jurisdictions as on the broader economic and cultural considerations of the region generally.
"The focus of Arbitration Law and Practice in Central and Eastern Europe is to provide an understanding of the involvement of state authority in arbitrations and offer practical ideas on arbitration procedures for countries in this region. Adopting a questionnaire format devised by the editors, issues are investigated from both the arbitrator's and the counsel's perspectives and important tactical issues are discussed. It is inevitable, however, that the reader may occasionally be disappointed to find an unanswered question. The editors, authors and contributors ask for patience as the reader tries to find specific answers to questions which would not have been posed ten years ago. Case law is generally sparse in these countries, legal reforms are recent, and therefore the legal writing is limited and does not cover the entire array of questions that may arise. The book is an indispensable reference and guide for arbitrators and party representatives who are engaged in arbitrations in the region."--Publisher's website.
The Czech Yearbooks Project, for the moment made up of the Czech Yearbook of International Law® and the Czech (& Central European) Yearbook of Arbitration®, began with the idea to create an open platform for presenting the development of both legal theory and legal practice in Central and Eastern Europe and the approximation thereof to readers worldwide. This platform should serve as an open forum for interested scholars, writers, and prospective students, as well as practitioners, for the exchange of different approaches to problems being analyzed by authors from different jurisdictions, and therefore providing interesting insight into issues being dealt with differently in many different countries. The Czech (& Central European) Yearbook of Arbitration® , the younger twin project within the Czech Yearbooks, primarily focuses on the problematic of arbitration from both the national and international perspective. The use of arbitration as a method of dispute resolution continues to increase in importance. Throughout Central and Eastern Europe, arbitration is viewed as being progressive, due to its practical aspects, and to its meeting the needs of specialists in certain practice areas. Central and Eastern Europe, the primary, but not exclusive, focus of this project, is steeped in the Roman tradition of continental Europe, in which arbitration is based on the autonomy of the parties and on informal procedures. This classical approach is somewhat different from the principles on which the system of arbitration in common-law countries is based. Despite similarities among countries in the region, arbitration in Central and Eastern Europe represents a highly particularized and fragmented system. One shortcoming in the use of arbitration in Central and Eastern Europe is the absence of comparative standards or a baseline that would facilitate the identification of commonalities and differences in individual countries, and help resolve problems that are common throughout the region. The CYArb® project aims to address this issue and provide a forum for comparisons of arbitration practice and doctrine in countries within the region, and in relation to practices internationally. It sheds light on both practical and academic aspects within these countries, and compares those approaches to broader European and international practices. This project will also foster a broad exchange of legal research and other information on the subject. The third volume of the CYArb® focuses on the blurry area which borders the procedural and substantial law. Editors, being motivated with an endeavour to provide the readers with complex insight into the problematic, invited authors of Civil same as Common law jurisdictions to provide their insight and analysis on the problems of i.e. mandatory provisions of procedural same as substantive law, issues of application of law in arbitration, adjudication according to the ex aequo et bono principles, issues of the burden and standard of proof and others. The issues are presented on highly comparative basis provided mostly by practitioners who are simultaneously involved in academic activities. The book is divided into four sections. The backbone sections encompass the doctrinal articles of the authors same as case law analysis of the domestic courts from the region relating to the topic, covering the case law of Constitutional, General same as Arbitral courts of the countries from the Central European Region. The rest of the book covers the news in the arbitration area same as interesting arbitration events or published articles and books of the authors from the region. The new volume of the The Czech (& Central European) Yearbook of Arbitration® : Borders of Procedural and Substantive Law in Arbitral Proceedings (Civil versus Common Law Perspectives) brings useful resource for everyone who is dealing with arbitration in all of its aspects, be it an academic, practitioner, law or international relations student who seeks global compendium on the issue including an overlap to economic and politic aspects of the problematic.
