European Union – Arbitration. Articles 267 and 344 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be interpreted as precluding a provision in an international agreement concluded between member states, such as art 8 of the Agreement on encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments between the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic (the BIT), under which an investor from one of those member states could, in the event of a dispute concerning investments in the other member state, bring proceedings against the latter member state before an arbitral tribunal whose jurisdiction that member state had undertaken to accept. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in a preliminary ruling in proceedings concerning an arbitral award made by the arbitral tribunal provided for by the BIT.