In a landmark decision, the Portuguese Supreme Administrative Court has overturned an arbitral award which dealt with the different available remedies in case of a fundamental change in circumstances (in this case, the effects of Covid-19) ruling that affording a force majeure protection to a party should have the effect of excluding other remedies to…
Judith Levine is the President of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (“ACICA”). Judith has been a long-serving member of ACICA and was one of its Vice-Presidents before her appointment as President in June this year. She is also a leading independent arbitrator based in Sydney, Australia, and has served as presiding, sole, and…
The Institute of Transnational Arbitration (ITA), in collaboration with the ITA Board of Reporters, is happy to inform you that the latest ITA Arbitration Report was published: a free email subscription service available at KluwerArbitration.com delivering timely reports on awards, cases, legislation and current developments from over 60 countries and 12 institutions. To get your free subscription to the ITA…
The English Arbitration Bill, introduced to UK Parliament in November 2023, aimed to ensure that the Arbitration Act 1996 remained fit for purpose and maintained England’s status as a leading destination for commercial arbitration. However, the bill was lost when the 2024 UK general election was called. In July 2024 the new government reintroduced the…
The DIS Autumn Conference, held on 10 September 2024, was the main event of the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days, which took place from 9 to 12 September 2024 and were jointly organized by the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the Humboldt University in Berlin. Set against the vibrant backdrop of…
In a recent ruling of 20 June 2024 (ARB 009/2024 Narcisco v. Nash), the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) Court of First Instance (“DIFC CFI”) was asked, as part of a wider investigation to grant an anti-suit injunction, to consider the validity of an arbitration agreement that provided for arbitration under the DIFC-London Court of…
The 2024 Singapore Convention Week kicked off with a bang on 26 August 2024 with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”) hosting its flagship SIAC Symposium at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. The SIAC Symposium 2024 featured a welcome address by Mr Davinder Singh SC (Chairman, SIAC; Executive Chairman, Davinder Singh Chambers LLC), a keynote address…
Following the morning session of the SIAC Symposium 2024, which explored issues including the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (“AI”), climate change, and trade disruption (see Part 1), the afternoon session consisted of three plenary panel discussions that delved into the core issues shaping the future of arbitration. These pivotal topics comprised: the ethical considerations guiding…
One of the most contentious issues in investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS”), leading to an extensive scholarly debate, and yet one of the least decided legal questions in arbitral practice is the functioning and effect of security exceptions. One of the reasons for that is the relatively low number of investment treaties that include such provisions…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Michael Hwang, Gökçe Uyar & Cosima Wimmers, The Enka v. Chubb/Anupam Mittal v. Westbridge Controversies: Why Not the Hong Kong (Partial) Solution? This paper explores the critical theme of determining the governing law…
It is not unnoticed that good faith gained relevance in investment treaty arbitration. There is an increasing number of decisions where good faith was relied on by tribunals on the basis of Article 31(1) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (“VCLT”), the general rule of interpretation, according to which “[a] treaty shall…
Mass arbitration has become extraordinarily expensive and highly volatile. The practice originated during a low tide for conventional class action certification and a high tide for judicial enforcement of individual arbitration agreements and class action waivers. Over the past decade, plaintiffs’ firms embraced this legislative and jurisprudential landscape and coordinated mass filings of individual arbitration…
Against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, numerous commercial disputes have arisen. In a (further) significant ruling dated 1 June 2023, the Higher Regional Court Berlin (Kammergericht or the “Court”) reinforced the integrity of arbitration by confirming the admissibility of arbitration to the exclusion of (Russian) state courts (Case No. 12 SchH 5/22)….
On 4 July 2024, Russia’s Arbitrazh Court of the North-Western Region (cassation) confirmed the earlier decision of the Arbitrazh Court of Saint Petersburg (first instance) to grant an anti-suit injunction prohibiting German Uniper Global Commodities SE (“Uniper”) and Methanhandel GmbH (“Metha”) from continuing ad hoc arbitration proceedings in Stockholm (Case No. А56-16212/2024). The reasons behind…
There is no dull moment in the intra-EU realm. Pandora’s box has long been opened by the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) with its Achmea decision leading to numerous ongoing challenges. In a recent ruling, the District Court of Amsterdam (“Amsterdam Court”) had to address a strategic manoeuvre by the Kingdom of…
The third update of materials for the 2024 Yearbook Commercial Arbitration is available on the KluwerArbitration database, with 29 court decisions from 13 countries. Here are some of the highlights. In a dispute between the Turkish company Etrak Insaat Taahhüt Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi and Libya concerning the execution of a settlement agreement governing payment…
From 1st to 3rd September 2024, the Brazilian Arbitration Committee—CBAr held its 23rd International Arbitration Conference (“23rd CBAr IAC” or “Conference”) in Brasília, Brazil’s federal capital. The theme of this year’s Conference was “Arbitration and Infrastructure.” The Organizing Committee, composed of both the current and previous CBAr Board members, succeeded in providing a program that…
The 23rd CBAr IAC was a resounding success. The second day of the Conference included a first Panel on the Circulation of Contractual Models and Infrastructure Arbitrations, a second Panel on Contractual Incompleteness and Infrastructure Arbitrations, and a third Panel on the Limits of Consent, Arbitrability, and Judicial Review in Infrastructure Arbitrations. Below, we summarize…
Continuing the central theme of the CBAr 23rd International Arbitration Conference, focused on discussing “Arbitration and Infrastructure,” the two panels held on September 3rd, 2024 were focused on the rendering of technical evidence in infrastructure disputes and the impact of foreign investment and sustainability in Brazil—topics of great complexity, yet essential for the continued development…
Arbitration and insolvency embody, to some extent, countervailing legal policies. Courts in many jurisdictions have grappled with the extent to which claims involving an insolvent company should be permitted to be resolved through arbitration. In the October 2023 decision of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd v Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India Ltd (“Indian Oil”), the Delhi…
On 11 April 2024, the Permanent Court of Arbitration published the award in Mason Capital L.P. and Mason Management LLC v. Republic of Korea (PCA Case No. 2018-55) (“Mason”), reaching the same substantive result as last year’s award in Elliott Associates L.P. v. Republic of Korea (PCA Case No. 2018-51) (“Elliott”), while disagreeing on the…
In a decision of 1 June 2023 (Case No. 12 SchH 5/22) that was praised as landmark, the Higher Regional Court of Berlin (Kammergericht) (“KG”) addressed some of the legal issues arising from the complex dispute between Siemens and Russian Railroads (“RZhD”) concerning the unilateral termination of an electric trains maintenance and repair contract by…
Many arbitration practitioners nowadays trace their initial interest in arbitration back to their student days, when they competed at the world’s largest and most renowned law student competition in the field of arbitration – the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. Created in 1993 by Prof. Dr. Eric E. Bergsten, the Vis Moot Competition…
Early this year, the European Union (“EU”) finalized the required internal procedures for the entry into force of the Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement concluded between the European Union and the Republic of Angola on 18 November 2022 (“SIFA” or the “Agreement”). This landmark agreement, the EU’s first “sustainable investment facilitation agreement,” could set a precedent…
