International court rules in favor of Hungary in Telenor case

Budapest Business Journal, Hungary

International court rules in favor of Hungary in Telenor case

18 September 2006

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has ruled in favor of the State of Hungary in a case brought against it by Norwegian telco Telenor, business daily Világgazdaság reported on Monday.

The ICSID said the state had infringed upon neither domestic nor international law, but had operated in harmony with both. As a result of the ruling, Telenor was forced to drop its Ft 30 billion claim against the state and pay the costs of the procedure.

Telenor appealed to the arbitration body in 2003 arguing that Hungary’s telecommunications market regulations were intentionally changed to put its Hungarian unit Pannon at a disadvantage for more than a decade. This depreciated the value of Telenor’s investments in Hungary, going against a bilateral agreement between Hungary and Norway on the protection of investments in either country, Telenor claimed.

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