A recent decision by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City (“Court”)—Decision No. 35/2025/QD-PQTT, dated 26 February 2025 (“Decision 35”)—offers important insights into what constitutes a “commercial” dispute under Vietnamese arbitration law. In this case, the Court held that the underlying dispute was non-arbitrable as it was of a civil and not commercial nature,…
The implementation of Tanzania’s Arbitration Act in 2020 (the Act) was an important step in positioning the country as a competitive investment hub. A Kluwer Arbitration Blog post written in 2021, The First Year of Tanzania’s 2020 Arbitration Act, reflects on how this law was also intended to position Tanzania as an African arbitration hub….
On 18 December 2024, His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, signed into law the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2024. Among the key amendments was the dissolution of the Centre for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (CADER) and its re-establishment as a department in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional…
Amidst the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, I represented a Chinese trader (“B”) ensnared in a supply chain dispute that exposed a glaring void in arbitration practice. B, bound by a back-to-back contract with a Vietnamese fruit juice seller (“A”), faced a lawsuit from a downstream Chinese buyer (“C”) due to A’s late delivery. When…
On 7 May 2025, over 300 participants gathered in Stuttgart, Germany for the annual Spring Conference of the German Arbitration Institute (“DIS”) entitled “The Revolution of Arbitration – Is Artificial Intelligence a Gamechanger?”. As in many—if not all—industries, business sectors, and areas of daily life, the topic of artificial intelligence (“AI”) is currently attracting significant…
The unappealable finality of arbitral awards underpins its widespread acceptance as a dispute resolution mechanism, yet courts retain a narrow gatekeeping role to prevent outcomes that violate fundamental principles of justice. The 2024 Kenyan High Court decision in Ongata Works Limited v. Tatu City Limited prompts a debate on whether courts can control arbitral cost awards….
In Fiambalá Solar S.A. c/Compañía Administradora del Mercado Mayorista Eléctrico, the Court of Appeals on Commercial Matters of the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina (“Court of Appeals”), ruled that domestic awards rendered under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules were final and not subject to appeal. The Court held that such awards can only be challenged by…
May parties contractually dissociate the forum competent to adjudicate annulment proceedings from the seat of the arbitration? In other words, may they choose one city as the arbitral seat while designating the courts of another to entertain proceedings to set aside the arbitral award? This question has been rarely tested in the Brazilian scene, but…
As part of the 2025 edition of the London International Disputes Week (“LIDW”), Osborne Partners, A&O Shearman and Eversheds Sutherland hosted a panel on “Arbitration in Emerging Industries (Tech, Fintech and Crypto): Global Risks and Local Differences”. The panel, moderated by Jonathan Leach (Eversheds Sutherland), comprised Brenda Horrigan (Independent Arbitrator), Sanjeev Kapoor (Khaitan & Co),…
Following its resounding success last year, the Arbitral Institutions Congress made a comeback, featuring on day 3 of the London International Disputes Week (“LIDW”) 2025. The event comprised of representatives from several global arbitral institutions as well as regional arbitral institutions and was held in the historic Queen’s Room at Middle Temple. The event was…
London International Disputes Week (“LIDW”) 2025 commenced with International Arbitration Day on 2 June 2025. The opening event, hosted by Linklaters LLP, featured a keynote address by Kevin Nash, Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration (“LCIA”), followed by a panel of in-house counsel discussing best practices and jurisdictional insights in international arbitration,…
On International Arbitration Day, London International Dispute Week (“LIDW”) featured panels that explored how courts and institutions can promote and strengthen arbitration, as well as how pivotal projects can benefit from it. This post highlights two panels hosted by Simmons & Simmons and Squire Patton Boggs, which focused on the approaches courts can take to…
The United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (“TPA”), in force since 15 May 2012, has been interpreted through a 15 January 2025 decision (Decision No. 9) issued by the Free Trade Commission of the TPA (the “FTC Decision”), which introduced new binding interpretations of the treaty’s investment protection standards (Article 10.22.3). While much of the FTC…
In recent years, the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) mechanism has attracted widespread criticism from countries, practitioners and academics, which has been the subject of a vast amount of literature. UNCITRAL through Working Group III has been working on possible reforms of ISDS since 2017. During its 51st Session, UNCITRAL Working Group III agreed that the…
On 30 April 2025, the United States and Ukraine signed the long-awaited Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the United States of America on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (“Minerals Deal”). The Minerals Deal, which, according to the Ukrainian government, will promote substantial investments in Ukraine, was…
On March 26, 2025, the German Federal Government, the federal states (Länder), and municipal organizations entered into an agreement to establish arbitral proceedings for claims concerning Nazi-confiscated art. This article endeavors to show the cornerstones of the new arbitration procedure as well as to highlight some possible weak points of this reform. Lost Art…
In investment arbitration, it is widely recognized that to benefit from the protection of an investment treaty, the investment must be legal. Tribunals assess this legality either because the treaty explicitly mandates it (e.g., Ecuador-Sweden BIT) or because the tribunal assumes this authority even if the treaty is silent (e.g., Worley v. Ecuador). In either…
Following last year’s surprising change of government in Botswana, one of the largest diamond mining countries, investors in the country’s natural resources sector could see an increase in the risks impacting their projects. Botswana’s economy has been experiencing a slowdown – growth decreased from 5.5% in 2022 to 1% in 2024. In addition, the newly-elected…
On March 18, 2025, the Office of the Paraguayan Presidency’s Legal Counsel submitted to the Paraguayan Arbitration and Mediation Center (the “Center”) its draft to modernize Law No. 1879/2002, the Paraguayan Arbitration Act (the “Project”), following a recent trend in other jurisdictions amending their arbitration legislation (e.g., France, the UK, and Germany). The Center has…
In a significant decision issued on 24 June 2024 (Case No. 200 of 2023), the Bahraini Court of Cassation (“Court of Cassation”) reaffirmed the centrality of arbitral autonomy by upholding the principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz. This doctrine, foundational in international arbitration, empowers arbitral tribunals to rule on their own jurisdiction, including disputes over the existence or…
Pakistani Courts typically employ an expansive interpretation of the term ‘public policy’ when determining arbitrability of an international dispute or the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. As a consequence, in recent years, some of the awards (with political and monetary importance for Pakistan) from international arbitral tribunals have been denied enforcement by the Pakistani Courts….
Anti-suit injunction (“ASI”) cases have risen in number in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) over the last two decades. Sanctions imposed by various States, including the European Union (“EU”) and the U.K., have been in place against Russia for about half of this period in light of its invasion of Ukraine and the on-going Russia-Ukraine war…
This is the third post in ICCA’s series of posts focused on international arbitration in Africa in the lead up to the ICCA-KIAC joint conference “Africa & International Arbitration: Untold Stories,” taking place in Kigali on 5 June 2025. Introduction Over the last two decades, Africa has experienced robust economic growth, increasing its appeal…
A few years ago, the government of Uganda embarked on Rationalization of Government Agencies and Expenditure (RAPEX) Reform to eradicate structural and functional duplications, mandate overlaps, and expenditure deemed uneconomical. As such, over 31 bills have received presidential assent, drawing the curtain on agencies that were either absorbed by the line ministries, merged with others…
