Squire Patton Boggs has successfully represented the Republic of Kosovo in arbitration proceedings under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce for a dispute with a virtual mobile network operator.
"The dispute, Blerim Devolli v Republic of Kosovo, concerned the alleged expropriation of Dardafon.net, a Kosovo virtual mobile network operator (MVNO) owned by the Claimant, Mr. Devolli," the firm informed. "As an MVNO, Dardafon.net operated on the basis of an agreement concluded in 2009 with Kosovo Telecom and which expired in June 2019. This cooperation resulted in two commercial ICC arbitrations initiated by Dardafon.net against Kosovo Telecom, and one investment arbitration brought by Mr. Devolli against the Republic of Kosovo. Mr. Devolli had sought EUR 45 million in damages from Kosovo."
According to Squire Patton Boggs, the Tribunal declined jurisdiction as Mr. Devolli had not established any investment in Kosovo, and he does not qualify as a foreign investor for the purposes of Kosovo’s Law on Foreign Investments. The Tribunal also awarded Kosovo costs of over EUR 1.3 million.
The Squire Patton Boggs team was led by Prague-based Partners Luka Misetic and Rostislav Pekar and included Partner Matej Pustay and Associates Fellenza Limani and Mailis Meier-Lutterodt and Bratislava-based Senior Associates Eva Dragunova and Jakub Kamenicky, as well as Houston-based Partner Mark Stadnyk.
