Region: Romania

Hamid Gharavi is at the centre of an ugly media storm after the French-Iranian arbitrator, who has represented Romania in international arbitrations, presided over a case at the Paris Olympics that resulted in a US gymnast being stripped of her bronze medal in favour of a Romanian competitor. 

14 August 2024

Canada’s Gabriel Resources has threatened to launch a new claim against Romania over permits for a gold and silver mine – as it continues with attempts to annul an ICSID award that rejected a multibillion-dollar claim over the same project.

07 August 2024

A Dutch real estate developer pursuing an ICSID claim against Romania says it is now facing a separate €96 million case that the state has filed at the LCIA.

17 July 2024

The fifth edition of the Bucharest Arbitration Days included panels addressing ethics and conflicts of interest, the relationship with the courts, how institutions make appointments, modernisation of investment contracts and efforts to reform ISDS. 

09 July 2024

A Canadian mining company is seeking to overturn a high-profile ICSID award that dismissed its claims over a gold and silver project and ordered it to pay Romania US$10 million in legal costs, alleging that the tribunal majority behind the ruling lacked independence and impartiality. 

09 July 2024

Romania’s Supreme Court has held that associations and foundations based in the country can only set up arbitral institutions if authorised by law. Cosmin Vasile of Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners in Bucharest explains the importance of the decision for the Romanian arbitration landscape.

17 June 2024

Romania has defeated a long-running ICSID claim in which it was accused of waging a campaign of persecution against the family of an insurance and media tycoon who died while serving a prison sentence in Bucharest.

14 June 2024

A US appeals court has for the second time upheld the confirmation of an ICSID award in favour of Sweden’s Micula brothers against Romania, which the state argued had been voided as a result of decisions by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

15 May 2024

A newly published ICSID award sheds more light on Romania’s surprise victory in a multibillion-dollar case brought by a Canadian mining company that was denied a permit for a controversial gold and silver project. 

10 May 2024

A split ICSID tribunal has reportedly ordered Romania to pay a group of European solar investors more than €46 million in an Energy Charter Treaty claim over the state’s cuts to its renewable energy incentive scheme.

20 March 2024