CETA's Investment Court System and the Autonomy of EU Law: Insights from the Hearing in Opinion 1/17

On 26 June 2018, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held its hearing in Opinion 1/17, which concerns the compatibility of CETA’s Investment Court System (ICS) with EU law. Due to the depth of the substantive issues covered and the length of hearing, this post only addresses the first of four questions posed to the ECJ by Belgium, which relates to the principle of autonomy. It is fair to say though that autonomy-related questions and arguments featured the hearing most prominently and may therefore be particularly contentious.