Victory in international arbitration
On 2 May 2018, the Ministry of Finance won the international arbitration dispute with owners of solar power plants in the proceedings Antaris GmbH and Dr. Michael Göde v. The Czech Republic. The claimants sued the Czech Republic for CZK 310 million (USD 14.5 million) as compensation for an alleged breach of the Czech-German agreement on promotion and mutual protection of investments and under the Energy Charter Treaty. The international arbitral tribunal dismissed all the claims against the Czech Republic and ordered the claimants to pay to the Ministry of Finance CZK 35 million (USD 2 million) as compensation of costs of legal counsel.
This is already the second victory of the Czech Republic in arbitrations brought by owners of solar plants. The first victory was achieved by the Ministry of Finance on 11 October 2017 in proceedings brought by German investors Gisela, Jürgen and Stefan Wirtgen and JSW Solar, in which the international arbitral tribunal also dismissed all claims against the Czech Republic in relation to the solar levy affecting certain solar plants commissioned during the solar bubble of 2009-2010 (and changes to the income tax regime). Other cases related to the same measures are still ongoing.