Dating apps are now a central part of many people’s lives. Yet many users perhaps overlook that use of this kind of app usually comes with an arbitration agreement. Almost all major dating apps—including Bumble, eHarmony, Grindr, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and Tinder— incorporate broad arbitration clauses in their terms of service (“TOS”)….
Another trip around the Sun has brought a wealth of notable developments. Courts across Canada have addressed a multitude of issues, including challenges to arbitrators due to reasonable apprehension of bias (as previously discussed on this blog) or due to excess of jurisdiction (see commentary here), the distinctions between “awards” and other “decisions”, as well…
2024 marked a period of several significant developments and witnessed some “firsts” for the African arbitration community. Notwithstanding the constantly changing political climate and policies in different countries across the continent, the continued growth of arbitration in Africa remains relentless with exciting events and collaborations as well as judicial, legislative and institutional developments. These events…
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) is witnessing a significant surge in construction activity, from leading giga projects (such as NEOM and the Red Sea Project) to being selected as the host of the FIFA World Cup 2034 and Expo 2030. The KSA is now at the forefront of the region in this industry and…
Service of documents against States raises the usual question of its validity or effectiveness with a particular acuity. Whilst the parties willing to communicate electronically may accommodate communication procedures accordingly, when it comes to service of documents against sovereigns, the electronic mode, due to its derogatory nature, must be duly agreed upon by States and…
The Editorial Board of Kluwer Arbitration Blog announces the opening of the following position with Kluwer Arbitration Blog: Assistant Editor for South Asia. Experience and knowledge in international arbitration in, and related to, India is required, and broader expertise in international arbitration is a plus. The Assistant Editor reports directly to the coordinating Associate Editor and…
The 2024 volume of the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration is now available in print, as well as online on the KluwerArbitration database. It contains 120 court decisions that apply the 1958 New York Convention, the 1961 European Convention, the 1965 Washington (ICSID) Convention, and the 1975 Panama (Inter-American) Convention, or address issues of general interest to the practice of…
In recent years, arbitration in India has continued to take significant strides – as covered in our previous posts here, here and here. In this post, we look back on the important developments in the Indian arbitration legislation and landscape over the last two years, and discuss the key takeaways looking ahead. Proposed Statutory Amendments…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Zongyao (Eric) Li, Revisiting the Arbitrability of Corporate Disputes: Proposing a Unified Approach The concept of arbitrability is dynamic, and its applicability to corporate disputes – such as shareholder disputes – can vary…
2024 proved to be a pivotal year for the development of arbitration in Pakistan, driven by the government’s concerted efforts to reform Pakistan’s arbitration framework. Legislative developments therefore took the centre stage. Key developments also included important judicial decisions under the existing regime. Legislative Reform The most significant development was the unveiling of the…
In the case of Parkdenton Ltd v Euro General Retail Ltd t/a EuroGiant [2024] IEHC 387 (Nolan J) a set aside application pursuant to two of the four grounds as per Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Model Law was rejected by the High Court. The application sought to set aside an arbitration award on the…
In the United States, 2024 brought a collection of refinements in the country’s arbitration jurisprudence, with courts issuing decisions that reinforced federal pro-arbitration policies and clarified important procedural issues for investment and commercial arbitration. Below, we explore four pivotal cases that shaped the arbitration landscape this year—first from the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and then…
As part of the 2024 Year in Review series, this post highlights the most significant arbitration-related decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“SFSC”) in 2024. The 2024 decisions provide welcome (and, in some case, vividly debated) clarifications on the issues of the tribunal’s jurisdiction, the arbitrator’s impartiality, the remedy of revision and the enforcement…
Continuing with the trend of previous years, 2024 saw continued development throughout the region. In Australia, we saw an influx of meaningful, pro-arbitration court decisions, in the Pacific Islands, we saw the strengthening of legal frameworks, and in New Zealand, we saw a clarification of public policy considerations. We delve into these standout developments and…
2024 witnessed significant developments concerning the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”), ranging from a new wave of withdrawals to the adoption of the modernised ECT in December. This post reviews the key ECT-related developments of 2024 and highlights relevant contributions published on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog (“KAB”). New Wave of Withdrawals from the ECT In…
The Editorial Board of Kluwer Arbitration Blog announces the opening of the following position with Kluwer Arbitration Blog: Assistant Editor for South Asia. Experience and knowledge in international arbitration in, and related to, India is required, and broader expertise in international arbitration is a plus. The Assistant Editor reports directly to the coordinating Associate Editor and…
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the European Union’s (“EU”) subsequent tightening of Russia sanctions, Western parties to international arbitration proceedings involving Russian parties have increasingly been confronted with anti-arbitration injunctions issued by Russian courts. These injunctions have their basis in Article 248 of the Russian Arbitrazh Procedural Code (“APC”), which also…
Can an arbitral tribunal revisit issues of liability after rendering an interim award in bifurcated proceedings? This was the question put to the High Court of Australia (the “Court”) in CBI Constructors Pty Ltd & Anor v Chevron Australia Pty Ltd [2024] HCA 28. In a judgment considering the concepts of finality and functus officio…
On 3 December 2024, the Energy Charter Conference (“Conference”) officially adopted the modernised version of the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT” or “Treaty”), following an agreement in principle reached in June 2022. We invited the Acting Secretary-General of the Energy Charter Secretariat (“Secretariat”), Ms. Atsuko Hirose, to share her insights. Ms. Hirose assumed her current position…
This post is concerned with the potential comparison between the fair and equitable (“FET”) standard and the rule against abuse of rights (“AR”), as regulated under municipal private law systems (mainly of continental origin). A Fresh Take On FET Through the Prism of Comparative Law: A Role for AR? FET combines a wide array…
During the 2024 Olympic Games, as the public watched world-class athletes perform, international arbitration came into the spotlight. The decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) to “strip” the US gymnast, Jordan Chiles, of her Olympic bronze medal (“CAS Decision”) caused a media storm and called into question the independence and impartiality of…
In Republic of India v CCDM Holdings (2024 QCCA 1620), the Quebec Court of Appeal (“the Court”) recently confirmed that India had waived its immunity from enforcement and reinstated a pre-judgment attachment of State assets which a first instance decision had previously quashed. Given creditors’ perennial efforts to have their awards enforced against States that…
Following the Blog’s established tradition, this post provides an overview of key developments in the field of arbitration in a selection of jurisdictions in Eastern Europe. This year’s highlights include significant legislative improvements, far-reaching judicial decisions from domestic courts, including the evolution of Russia’s counter-sanctions regime, and a potentially consequential ruling by the European Court…
In modern arbitration proceedings, most evidence goes through a digital process before reaching the eyes of decision-makers. Physical documents are scanned, processed with Optical Character Recognition (“OCR”), archived, and transferred. Digitally created documents follow the last two steps as well. Sometimes these processes are repeated multiple times. This “assembly line of evidence” has become the…
