Supreme Court holds that Micula parties can enforce ICSID Arbitration Award against Romania

On 19 February 2020, in Micula and Ors v Romania, the Supreme Court held that the Micula parties can enforce an ICSID Arbitration Award for more than £150m against Romania despite longstanding objections from Romania and the European Commission.

This is a historic decision, in which the Supreme Court reversed the decisions of the Court of Appeal and Commercial Court below, lifting a stay on enforcement of the ICSID Award in the United Kingdom and finding that “the duty of sincere co-operation is not applicable in this case and there is no impediment to the lifting of the stay, which is an unlawful measure in international law and unjustified and unlawful in domestic law.”

Since there are now no legal barriers to enforcement, the Micula parties are able to enforce the Award and retrieve sums that have been outstanding for many years.

Henderson Chambers’ Professor Sir Alan Dashwood QC and Patrick Green QC , with Jonathan Worboys represented Mr V Micula (the First Claimant) and were instructed by Croft Solicitors.

A copy of The Supreme Court judgment can be found here.