Hungary appeals Sodexo award with ICSID

Budapest Business Journal, Hungary

Hungary appeals Sodexo award with ICSID

MTI – Econews

5 June 2019

Hungary has filed to annul an award of some EUR 73 million, before interest, to French food voucher company Sodexo, granted in an arbitration ruling by the World Bankʼs International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), state news agency MTI reported, citing case information on ICSIDʼs website.

"The Secretary-General registers an application for annulment of the award filed by Hungary and notifies the parties of the provisional stay of enforcement of the award," ICSID noted among case developments.

Late in January, ICSID ordered Hungary to pay the award for regulatory changes affecting the countryʼs voucher system that effectively squeezed Sodexo, along with its peers, out of the market. Hungary had 120 days to appeal the decision.

Previously, ICSID ordered the Hungarian state to pay EUR 23 mln to French voucher company Edenred in December 2016, and also EUR 23 mln to Le Chèque Déjeuner in October 2018.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in 2016 that some aspects of Hungaryʼs unified voucher system were incompatible with EU law.