OECD Arbitration in Tax Treaty Law

1. S. 665Introduction

On 24 August 2000, Austria and Germany concluded a double tax convention (the Convention). This Convention contains a unique mandatory binding arbitration clause appointing the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) as the arbitrator. In 2017, the CJEU accepted the role assigned to it by Austria and Germany in the Convention and decided its very first case of tax treaty arbitration (the Decision). The Decision, or rather the arbitral award, was issued in the context of heated discussions on effective and efficient tax treaty dispute resolution mechanisms. Various international bodies, the OECD, the UN, and the European Union (EU) paid attention to that issue as well. Does the issued Decision indicate an opportunity for the CJEU to become an alternative for tax treaty dispute resolution? What would be the implications for relevant stakeholders?

The new role accepted by the CJEU is the main focus of this thesis. Chapter 2. analyses the legal basis for the CJEU as an arbitrator under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (the TFEU) and addresses various practical aspects of such arbitration, including the procedure. The focus of Chapter 3. is the...