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….
Country Equity Risk Premium (CERP) represents the additional return equity investors require to compensate for the heightened risks of investing in a particular country. These risks may arise from political instability, economic volatility, currency fluctuations, expropriation threats, and weaknesses in the legal and regulatory framework. Each of these risk components can, in principle, be separately…
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…
ICCA is pleased to alert readers to the release of the 2024 volume of the ICCA Awards Series, now available in print, as well as online in the Kluwer Arbitration database. The volume contains 10 significant awards rendered in both ad hoc proceedings, as well as through institutional arbitrations administered by the Arbitration Foundation of…
As defined by Mister Fantastic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “[a]n Incursion occurs when the boundary between two universes erodes and they collide, destroying one or both entirely.” In the realm of commercial disputes, a similar incursion has taken place for some time between two competing legal regimes — arbitration and insolvency. In the recent…
Can a court interfere with an administrative decision of an arbitral institution? In this article, we discuss the recent decision of DMZ v DNA [2025] SGHC 31 (“DMZ”) in which the Singapore High Court (“SGHC”) ruled that courts cannot intervene in decisions of the SIAC Registrar (“Registrar”) and reaffirmed the principle of minimal curial intervention…
Data protection laws and regulations are generally mandatory and apply anytime personal data is processed, including the methods, locations and times that personal information may be processed. However, such laws and regulations do not expressly or explicitly address data protection in arbitration proceedings. On 27 November 2022, the National Assembly of Tanzania passed the Personal…
This is the second 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 The concept of immunity operates in distinct legal contexts. Under international law, it functions as a protection…
On 3 January 2025, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia (“Constitutional Court”) issued Decision No. 100/PUU-XXII/2024 (“Decision 100”) which declared certain wording in Law No. 30 of 1999 concerning Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (“Arbitration Law”) to be unconstitutional. This post examines how Decision 100 reduces ambiguity regarding the nationality of awards and minimizes situations where…
On 19 February 2025, a panel of arbitration experts gathered in New York to explore how emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence (“AI”)—are reshaping international arbitration. The discussion, titled “From Today to Tomorrow: Tech-Driven Arbitration,” was hosted by the AAA-ICDR and ArbTech and moderated by Mihaela Apostol (ArbTech, London). Law Firms and AI: Adoption, Resistance, and…
Critical minerals have recently become one of the most sought-after commodities. The clean energy transition and national security concerns have only boosted their demand. According to the International Energy Agency (“IEA”), the demand for critical minerals in 2023 experienced strong growth, with lithium demand rising 30% and demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth…
Recently, the UK Arbitration Act received royal assent, bringing in several important changes. The commentators have been quick to discuss these changes from various angles, including, for example, from the perspective of LCIA arbitrations. One of the notable changes is the introduction of Section 6A, which introduces a new default rule: unless the parties expressly agree…
The takeover of the Chinese-owned British Steel Limited by the UK Government under the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2015 can lead to the submission of a dispute to investment treaty arbitration under the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People’s Republic…
In February 2025, the Court of Appeal of England & Wales unanimously dismissed Russia’s appeal against the English High Court’s decision that issue estoppel applies to its determination of the applicability of exceptions to state immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978 (“Immunity Act”) (“CoA Decision”). The case forms part of long-running, multi-jurisdictional proceedings surrounding…
In a recent decision of 27 January 2025, in Baker Hughes Saudi Arabia Company Limited v. Dynamic Industries, Incorporated & Ors, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (“COA”) overturned the ruling of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (“District Court”), and enforced the parties’ arbitration agreement…
The much-touted 7th Edition of the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC Rules 2025”) came into force earlier this year on 1 January 2025. The SIAC Rules 2025 codify the conventions and practices of the SIAC Court of Arbitration (“SIAC Court”) as well as of arbitral tribunals which have emerged over the…
Unilateral option clauses (“UOCs”), also known as asymmetric or split arbitration clauses, grant one party the exclusive right to choose between litigation and arbitration while binding the other party to a single dispute resolution mechanism. These clauses are particularly common in financial and commercial contracts, where they are often employed by the stronger party to…
In a tribunal comprising three members, a unanimous arbitral award depicts the agreement of all members to the award. It has been argued that a single arbitrator’s bias in such a tribunal does not impact the integrity of the award as the outcome remains unaffected. Consequently, applications for setting aside arbitral awards on the grounds…
The Ontario Court of Appeal (“The Court”) has overturned the decision of an application judge who refused to set aside an arbitral award despite a finding of a reasonable apprehension of bias concerning one of the arbitrators. In doing so, the Court stated that when the objective test for bias is met, regarding even one…
The conference on “Arbitration and Mediation in Industrial Property,” during Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”) 2025, brought together legal scholars, judges, arbitrators, and mediators to explore how alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) is reshaping the landscape of industrial property. The first panel focused on this transformation, while the second delved into the launch of the Patent Mediation…
Recent amendments to the United Nations (“UN”) Model Tax Convention aim at banning the use of investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS”) provisions for disputing tax measures, thereby attempting to deal a further blow to international investment agreements (IIAs). The UN Model Tax Convention is regularly updated and was drafted with the aim to cater for the…
