One of the great advantages of arbitration is that it is a “one-shot” dispute resolution mechanism that does not allow for a series of appeals. Indeed, many users stress the finality of awards and the lack of an appeals mechanism as a valuable characteristic of arbitration. However, there may be situations where the “one shot”…

Between 17-23 October 2022, the São Paulo Arbitration Week (“SPAW”) was held with multiple events in different parts of the biggest city of Latin America. The SPAW is a collaborative event, organized by Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (“CAM-CCBC”), and is conceived as a calendar for law firms, universities,…

There’s a story told of Abraham Lincoln who, during his days as a working lawyer, was riding in a stagecoach from one rural courthouse to another. His companions got to discussing human anatomy, and one of them asked Lincoln, a distinctly tall man himself, how long he thought a man’s legs should be. Long enough,…

Environmental concerns now play an increasing role in investment disputes. In this regard, this post analyses the interpretation of an environmental carve-out in an investment treaty in the decision on jurisdiction and liability in Eco Oro Minerals Corp. (“Eco Oro”) v. Colombia.   Background and Award This dispute arose from Colombia’s measures adopted in connection…

The Paris Court of Appeal has ruled in a Covid-related set aside request that French law does not impose an obligation on arbitrators to sign an award simultaneously on the same page. In a judgment dated 30 November 2021, the international chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal rejected an application to set aside a…

Arbitration has been well-established in Poland already before and throughout the 1920s. It has, however, experienced a downturn between 1945 and 1989 due to the distrust of the Polish state. The winds had changed in the 1990s when arbitration started to flourish again. Since then, the Polish parliament introduced several reforms previously discussed on this…

Since its creation, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) has been at the forefront of promoting international arbitration in Africa, particularly with respect to creating a favourable setting for international and regional arbitration under the Uniform Act on Arbitration adopted by the seventeen OHADA Member States. This momentum continued with the recent adoption…

A one paragraph obiter dictum in an annulment decision rendered by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (the “Court”) on 16 January 2020 (26 Sch 14/18) reignited an old debate: are dissenting opinions in German arbitration proceedings permissible? From an international perspective, dissenting opinions in arbitral awards are by no means unusual.  That is why it…

Electronic signatures (e-signatures) may affect in some cases arbitration’s most valuable characteristic: the enforceability of the arbitral award. In most jurisdictions, and in particular pursuant to Article 31(1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, arbitral awards must be rendered in writing and contain the arbitrators’ signatures. The enforceability risks of authenticating an arbitral…

In a recent decision, New York State’s highest court (the New York Court of Appeals) rejected an argument that a tribunal exceeded its authority, as to warrant vacatur, when it reconsidered and corrected an earlier decision rendered in a “partial final award.”  The Court concluded that arbitrators are not functus officio to reconsider an interim…

The COVID-19 outbreak as of now affects 183 states and a number of territories. Out of 164 State signatories to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “New York Convention”) only Marshall Islands, Tonga, Palau are not affected by the pandemic; all 153 state members to the ICSID Convention…

The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted discussions on online dispute resolution methods like no other phenomenon. With this, determining the proper seat for online arbitration has become the center of conversation. As the world adapted to the challenges presented by the pandemic, so too did international arbitration. Suddenly, there was a wave of virtual hearings, webinars and…

On 11 December 2019, the Advocate General Priit Pikamäe delivered its Opinion recommending the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) to declare that it does not have jurisdiction to rule in infringement of European Union (“EU”) law proceedings concerning the long-running border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia, which the CJEU endorsed in the…

Arbitrators and tribunal-appointed experts are at all times obliged to disclose any and all circumstances that might give rise to doubts as to their impartiality and independence. This is one of the most fundamental duties to safeguard the legitimacy of arbitration. Yet, what are the consequences if they fail to do so? This question has…

This post analyses the decisions of Hungarian courts rendered under the New York Convention (“Convention”) and published in the last two decades. The decisions were initially made available to the international arbitration community in the ICCA Yearbook of Commercial Arbitration series. This case law of 20 years is summarized below by identifying the main directions…

As reported in earlier blog posts on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 1) See, e.g., Zoltán Novák, New Arbitration Act in Hungary, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 15 October 2017; Alexandra Bognár, Hungary: Are Interim Measures Hard to Enforce?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 18 July 2017; Ioana Knoll-Tudor, The 2018 Hungarian Arbitration Act: Implications of the New Setting Aside…

Introduction The enforcement bar is becoming more specialized. This development follows the trend in U.S. litigation towards increasing specialization and the growth of niche practice industries; but it also stems from specific changes to the enforcement regime that are addressed in this article and that have important implications for the life-cycle of an international arbitration….

A long-term dispute between Libra Terminais S.A., Libra Terminais Santos S.A., two companies belonging to one of the major port operating groups in Brazil (“Libra”), and the Dock Companies for the State of São Paulo (“CODESP”) seems to have been concluded by a recent arbitral award. The dispute concerned a concession agreement of two terminals…

The Public Policy Exception as an Unruly Horse There is an ongoing quest for a uniform application of the New York Convention. However, the interpretation of the exceptions to enforcement still varies. Albeit applying the same provisions, national courts continue to adopt different approaches to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. This is particularly true…

A little under ten years ago Sir Rupert Jackson proposed significant reforms to reduce the costs of litigation in England and Wales. It is fair to say that while his reforms have received both praise and criticism over the past decade, they are largely considered to have been a success in curtailing the costs of…

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…

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…

The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) has its own scope – it states that it “shall apply to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards”. Only decisions made by arbitrators are to be considered “awards” within the meaning of the New York Convention1)UNCITRAL Secretariat Guide on the…

Five years after filing the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Case No. 2013-32 under the European Development Fund Arbitration Rules (EDF Rules), the claimant, Consta JV (an Italian contractor), would have hoped for a successful award against the CDE (a joint enterprise between the Ethiopian and Djibouti government) that would be upheld by the local…