The term environmental, social and governance (ESG) was coined almost 20 years ago in a landmark report entitled ‘Who Cares Wins,’ which was the result of a joint initiative of financial institutions invited by the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop guidelines and recommendations on how to better integrate ESG issues in asset…
The Abu Dhabi Global Market Arbitration Centre (“ADGMAC”) introduced its Protocol for Remote Hearings (“Protocol”) in June 2021. The Protocol provides parties, their lawyers and the Tribunal with a set of procedural and logistical arrangements for the conduct of hearings that may be conducted remotely (whether fully or in part). Previously, in September 2019, ADGMAC…
Introduction The Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) is a financial free zone in the United Arab Emirates. Foreign parties are attracted to the ADGM for a number of reasons, including its direct application of English common law, the ability to use English language to conduct proceedings in the ADGM Courts, and its enhanced adoption of…
Introduction The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Case C-284/16, Slovak Republic v. Achmea B.V. (Achmea) has attracted much comment in many fora, including the Kluwer Arbitration Blog (See e.g., articles authored by Florian Stefan, Clement Fouchard and Marc Krestin, and Vivek Kapoor). This is not surprising. The CJEU…
The Federal Law No. 7 of 2016 recently amended Article 257 of the UAE Penal Code to impose criminal liability on arbitrators, experts and translators who issue decisions and opinions contrary to the duties of impartiality and neutrality. The amendment became effective on 18 October 2016. As we have seen in the last few months,…
Two years ago, in the case of Banyan Tree v Meydan Group, an arbitral award rendered outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was enforced by the DIFC courts in circumstances where neither party was based nor had assets in the DIFC. The case demonstrated the willingness of the DIFC’s courts to enforce awards rendered…
It is generally accepted that arbitral tribunals enjoy a “liberty of decision”, which I have suggested as meaning, “the freedom of the arbitral tribunal from external restraint, compulsion, or interference in making its decision…”[1] Such a right may be viewed as a facet of the justiciable right to freedom of expression, since the exercise of…
As previously reported, in a decision rendered on 15 April 2009, an ICSID Tribunal declined jurisdiction to hear claims submitted by Phoenix Action Ltd (“Phoenix”) against the Czech Republic. Phoenix, an Israeli company, purchased two Czech companies, Benet Praha and Benet Group, in 2002 while these two companies were involved in ongoing legal disputes. The…
The European Court of Justice issued its eagerly awaited judgment in the so-called West Tankers or Front Comor case on 10 February 2009. To many in the arbitration community, especially those based in London, it will come as a disappointing, if not altogether surprising, conclusion of a lengthy legal saga, which began over eight years…
