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The German Constitutional Court rejected the complaint of the company Achmea B.V. challenging the annulment of the Achmea arbitration award. The arbitration dispute between the Slovak Republic and Achmea B.V. concerning the ban on profits of health-insurance companies shall be a history.
On 6 March 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in favor of the Slovak Republic in a long-standing dispute with the Dutch company Achmea B.V., which is a shareholder of the Slovak health insurance company UNION, a.s. On the basis of this verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union, on 31 October 2018, the German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof or "BGH") annulled the original arbitration award against the Slovak Republic.
On 12 December 2018, Achmea B.V. filed a constitutional complaint against this judgment of the BGH at the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht or "BVG"). Achmea B.V. objected, among other things, that the BGH violated its fundamental right to conduct business, the right to effective legal protection and the obligation of the BGH to refer back to the Court of Justice of the European Union and the BVG. Achmea B.V. also claimed that the Court of Justice of the European Union in the judgment in the Achmea case acted beyond it authority and violated the constitutional identity of Germany.
After almost 6 years, the BVG issued its order on inadmissibility of this constitutional complaint (published on 13 September 2024), rejecting all points of this constitutional complaint. This order on inadmissibility, which is in favor of the Slovak Republic and which indirectly confirms the correctness and constitutionality of the BGH decision, ends the long-standing international arbitration dispute between the Achmea B.V. and the Slovak Republic, which began back in 2008.
It should be noted that in parallel with the court proceedings in Germany, Achmea B.V. has been trying to enforce the arbitration award before the courts in Luxembourg since 2012. The Luxembourg court blocked the funds of the Slovak Republic in the amount of in 30 million EUR in favor of Achmea B.V. and later decided that these funds shall remain blocked until the constitutional complaint is finally decided in Germany. Based on the BVG order on inadmissibility, the proceedings in Luxembourg should be completed, which would entail the release of the blocked funds of the Slovak Republic.
The Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic reminds that one of the most fundamental precedents in the field of international protection of investments was created in connection with the so-called Achmea I arbitration. International investment arbitrations conducted on the basis of the international agreements on the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments are among the most costly disputes in terms of compensation that the states face in case of loss. As a result of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case Achmea B.V. v. the Slovak Republic, bilateral agreements on the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments between the Member States of the European Union were terminated, which resulted in a shift in disputes conducted against the Member States of the European Union and in the elimination of possible future disputes with a potentially high negative financial impact on their budgets.
To this date, the Slovak Republic has successfully defended all the arbitration disputes that arose in connection with the so-called ban of profit of health insurance companies, which the government of the Slovak Republic introduced back in 2007. So far, the Slovak Republic has not lost any international investment arbitration and thus belongs to the most successful countries ever.
In conclusion, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic would like to thank all those who supported the Slovak Republic in this complicated dispute.
Press Department
Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic
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