Year: 2018

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, ICC, ICC Arbitration, International arbitration, Russia

, (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP)/ /2 Comments

In February 2018, the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow issued a ruling1) Ruling of the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow dated 8 February 2018, case No. A40-176466/17-83-1232. denying the recognition and enforcement of an ICC award issued in favor of Dredging and Maritime Management SA (Luxembourg) against JSC Inzhtransstroy…

Consolidation, Enforcement, India

(Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.)/ /1 Comment

This blog previously carried a post (“previous post”) on the Indian Supreme Court’s (“SC”) progressive approach to binding non-signatories to an arbitration agreement in Ameet Lalchand Shah and Others v Rishabh Enterprises and Another (“Ameet Lalchand”). The present post briefly discusses another aspect of this approach in context of Cheran Properties Limited v Kasturi and…

Africa, Arbitral seat, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration Proceedings, CAJAC, Commercial Arbitration, Interviews with Our Editors

(Equanimity Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

With development in the African continent on the rise, the region is seeing the introduction and/ or revamping of its arbitration centres. One such development is the establishment of the China Africa Joint Arbitration Centre (CAJAC) to resolve commercial disputes between Chinese and African parties. Not an unsurprising development given China’s commitment to invest $60…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Cybersecurity

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The advent of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018 within the EU and the European Economic Area, has sparked a renewed debate within the arbitration community about importance of adequate consideration being given to the collection, preservation and protection of data in arbitral proceedings. The GDPR…

Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Confidentiality, India

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YIAG

The proposed amendments (“Bill”) to the Indian arbitration law may soon get the force of law. The Bill is based on the report (“Report”) of a High Level Committee and suggests several changes which may have far-reaching negative effect.   In my earlier post, it was argued that the Report and the Bill have some…

Arbitration Agreement, Brazil, Multiple parties, Non-signatory, Swap

(Clyde & Co LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The debate around the ‘extension’ of arbitration agreements has, once again, been placed under the spotlight in Brazil. The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (‘SCJ’) recently considered the issue in disputes involving groups of contracts between the same parties. The SCJ ruled in favour of the ‘extension’ of the arbitration agreement contained in the main…

Confidentiality, Enforcement, Interim measures, Jurisdiction, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law, UNCITRAL Model Law, United Arab Emirates

(Al Tamimi & Company)/ /2 Comments

Arbitration in the UAE is governed by the Federal Arbitration Law No. 6 of 2018 (“UAE Arbitration Law”). The UAE Arbitration Law, which entered into force in June 2018, repealed Articles 203 to 218 of the UAE Civil Procedures Law No. 11 of 1992 (“CPC”), which previously governed arbitration in the UAE. Unlike the former…

Arbitral Award, Enforcement, India, Interim Orders

(Bombay High Court)/ /1 Comment

Background The Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) provides, in Section 37(2)(b), for an ‘appeal’ from an arbitral tribunal’s order on interim/provisional measures (“interim order”). It, however, does not stipulate the standard of review that the court must apply while reviewing an interim order. Sans any prescribed legislative standard, courts have two alternatives available: test…

Derivate Contracts, Derivative Claims, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Investor-State arbitration, Multiple parties, NAFTA

(University of Bristol )/ /Leave a comment

The last decade has seen multiparty arbitration emerge as a contentious issue in investment treaty arbitration. Beginning with Abaclat v Argentina, investment tribunals have grappled with whether similarly-situated, but otherwise unrelated investors with distinct investments, can bundle their claims in a single arbitration. While decisions on this issue continue to evolve, a new ground for…

India, Jurisdiction, Jurisdictional challenge, Set aside an arbitral award

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The Supreme Court of India (“SC”) in its recent decision M/s Lion Engineering Consultants v. State of M.P. & Ors. (“Lion”) has held that a party that had failed to raise a jurisdictional challenge before the arbitral tribunal under Section 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”), would yet be permitted to raise such…

Ex Aequo Et Bono

(Universiti Brunei Darussalam & University of Sydney)/ /4 Comments

Ex aequo et bono1)The author is grateful to Professors Leon Trakman and Luke Nottage for their comment on early drafts of this blog article.This blog post is based on the author’s PhD thesis. is a legal concept that confers on arbitrators the power to decide a dispute in accordance with their sense of fairness and…

Japan, Japan Commercial Arbitration Association, JCAA

(Universiti Brunei Darussalam & University of Sydney) and (University of Sydney & Williams Trade Law)/ /Leave a comment

Not long after the ICCA Congress held in Sydney, the Japan International Dispute Resolution Center (JIDRC) was established in Osaka on 1 May 2018, with some fanfare from the Japanese government and local legal circles. ‘JIDRC-Osaka’ does not provide arbitration services but offers specialist facilities for international arbitration hearings and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution…

Achmea, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Mediation, Spain

(Galvez Pascual SLP)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Unquestionably, Spain captures the highest percentage of arbitration procedures for cuts applied to renewable energies, accumulating almost thirty ongoing lawsuits from foreign investors, with claims pending in the ICSID, in the SCC and in the ICC arbitrations. Spain as the respondent was successful in the first two arbitrations, but these were unique cases and…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Consolidation, Emergency Arbitrator, Expedited arbitration, Expedited Proceedings

(Clifford Chance Asia) and (P&A Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

Many arbitration centres trumpet innovativeness as their selling point. One commonly cited proof of innovativeness is ‘software upgrades’, i.e., centres revising rules to introduce new arbitral procedures. These are intended to make arbitration cheaper, faster, and fairer. Introducing New Arbitral Procedures – First Movers New procedures introduced over the past decade include emergency arbitration (“EA“),…

Arbitration, Brexit, Choice of Law

(Swiss International Law School (SiLS))/ /1 Comment

The title of this post may, at a first sight, seem rather odd, but this author submits that choice of a governing contract law can actually be explained using ice cream as an analogy.   Assuming an individual generally likes ice cream, a question that arises is whether any thought has ever gone into why…

Enforcement, Set aside an international arbitral award, Singapore Court of Appeal

(Breakpoint LLC)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction On 23 July 2018, this blog posted a commentary entitled “Choice of Remedies Doctrine – A Jack-In-The-Box?” The commentary explored the Singapore High Court’s decision in Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd v Avant Garde Maritime Services (Private) Limited [2018] SGHC 78 (“Rakna”), and its implications.  The commentary also revisited the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision…

Arbitral Award, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Public Policy

(Loyola University Chicago School of Law)/ /1 Comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

On the 60th anniversary of the New York Convention, we can generally conclude that the public policy basis for refusing to enforce an arbitration award has for the most part worked as the drafters intended. The drafters knew that by permitting courts to refuse to enforce foreign arbitral awards based on public policy, they were…

Arbitration, Arbitration clause, Arbitrators, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Confidentiality

(Shehata & Partners, Maastricht University)/ /1 Comment

Introduction: Two of the most frequent buzz words in our world right now are without doubt: Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Both technologies have definitely grabbed the attention of the international arbitration community, however, most of the current literature contemplates far-fetched scenarios and how these technologies can revolutionize the world of international arbitration. These articles…

Allocation of costs, conflict of interest, Consistency, ICSID Procedure, Panel of Arbitrators, Reform

(British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL))/ /Leave a comment

On 13 November 2018, ICSID will present its new proposed amendments at a major conference in London. This round of amendments aims, among other things, to modernize the ICSID procedure based on case experience, simplify the rules, and make the process increasingly time and cost effective while maintaining due process and a balance between investors…

Arbitrability, Criminal law and arbitration, Lithuania

(Greenlex)/ /Leave a comment
Young ICCA

The Court of Appeal of Lithuania (“Court of Appeal”) in Prosecutor v. Public Entity “Pramogų sala”,1) Ruling of the Court of Appeal of Lithuania in case No. 1S-183-307/2018 dated 9 August 2018. has ruled on 9 August 2018 that claims for damages are not arbitrable in cases where the (disputable) loss is caused by a…

Insurance, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Political Risk Insurance

(Nishith Desai Associates)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction Political Risk Insurance (PRI) was discussed as a concept here. In fact, an earlier post discussed PRI as an alternative to investment treaty arbitration (ITA) for investors. The interaction between PRI and ITA is a germane field of study as both are risk mitigation strategies for investors and in some instances an investor can…

Awards, Civil Procedure, Costa Rica, Due process, Forwarding

(HDUARTE LEGAL)/ /Leave a comment

The Return of the Jedi is a 1983 science fiction movie set in 4 ABY, a year after the Imperial occupation of Cloud City, when Luke Skywalker and his friends travel to Tatooine to rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt. The Empire prepares to destroy the Rebel Alliance with a more…

National Arbitration Laws, National Courts, Switzerland

(Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Ltd.)/ /Leave a comment

On 11 January 2017, the Swiss Federal Council issued a draft bill to revise chapter 12 of the Swiss International Private Law Act (“SPILA”) on international arbitration (as well as, to a lesser extent, the Federal Tribunal Act and the Civil Procedure Code (“CPC”)), which was the subject of a previous publication on this blog….

Case management conference, Expedited Proceedings

(Penn State University)/ /Leave a comment

A heated debate has been ignited by the results of the 2018 Queen Mary Survey, which highlighted time and cost as the most fervid complaints respondents had regarding arbitration. In order to address these issues, a series of measures have been implemented by major international arbitral institutions in recent years in order to counteract significant…