Introduction

On July 18, 2014, a tribunal composed of The Hon. L. Yves Fortier, Chairman, Dr. Charles Poncet and Judge Stephen M. Schwebel (the Yukos tribunal or tribunal) rendered three awards against the Russian Federation, finding that the Russian Federation had unlawfully expropriated the Yukos Claimants' investments and had violated the obligation to treat their investments fairly and equitably under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). While the Yukos awards will likely be remembered for the amount of over 50 billion USD in damages awarded and the finding of contributory fault on the part of the Claimants, the Yukos tribunal's approach to taxation measures and in particular, its conclusion that an abusive tax was not a tax for the purposes of interpreting the so-called "tax carve-out" in Article 21 of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), could have a more lasting impact on investment arbitration disputes.

Articles in this series of Yukos papers so far:

Fruits of the Poisonous Tree: The Admissibility of Unlawfully Obtained Evidence in International Arbitration
by J.H. Boykin and M. Havalic
on OGEL and TDM

Mammoth Arbitrations: the Yukos Awards of 18 July 2014
by S. Nappert
on OGEL and TDM

Yukos and Contributory Fault by W. Sadowski
on OGEL and on TDM

What's Tax Got To Do With It? The Yukos Tribunal's Approach to Motive and Treaty Interpretation
by R. Teitelbaum
on OGEL and on TDM

Winning the Battle Does Not Mean Winning the War: Challenges Facing the Yukos Shareholders in Enforcing Their Arbitration Awards Against the Russian Federation in England and Wales
by M. Davies
on OGEL and on TDM

Yukos v. Russian Federation: Observations on the Tribunal's Ruling on Damages
by by B. Sabahi and D. Ziyaeva
on OGEL and on TDM