In SpaceCom v Wateen Telecom, SpaceCom applied to the Lahore High Court (the “LHC”) for recognition and enforcement of awards rendered by a DIFC-LCIA tribunal (the “Tribunal”) under the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitral Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011 (the “Act”), which implements the New York Convention (the “NYC”). The awards were rendered in…
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…
Say that Party B sues Parties A and C in a court in Jurisdiction X, notwithstanding an arbitration agreement between Parties A and B that covers “all disputes, controversies or claims arising out of or in connection” with their contract. Parties A and C then turn to Jurisdiction Y, the seat of arbitration, for an…
On September 15, 2024, the former President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, enacted a law that profoundly modifies the Mexican judicial system at both the federal and local level. This law aims to transform the Mexican juridical system to promote accessibility, transparency, democracy, and efficiency. A significant change is the election of justices and…
At Kluwer Arbitration Blog, December is the month to thank our readers and collaborators for their readership, contributions, and support. This is also the occasion to praise our excellent editors. In January 2025, Kluwer Arbitration Blog celebrates 16 years of existence. The Editorial Board of Blog expanded from two to over forty members, showcasing the…
To emerge from a fragile post-conflict situation, a state must undergo a process of reconstruction. Such a process begins with a peace agreement, a ceasefire agreement, or other cessation of hostilities. Those circumstances provide a window of opportunity for a peace-dividend. Reconstruction in post-conflict societies is a complex undertaking with an array of urgent and…
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) is undergoing a transformative shift in its economy. In 2016, the KSA launched the Saudi Vision 2030, an initiative to, among others, attract foreign and domestic investment by improving the regulatory environment and enhancing business opportunities. A key piece of this transformation came on 11 August 2024, when the…
In an attempt to modernize Pakistan’s legal regime on arbitration, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan assembled the Arbitration Law Review Committee (the “ALRC”), and tasked it to prepare a new legislation on the subject. After protracted deliberations by members of the ALRC, the draft Arbitration Act, 2024 (the “Draft Act”) has come into…
The Court of Appeal of Amsterdam (the “Court”) recently granted leave to enforce a foreign ICC award in the Netherlands, despite fraud allegations and pending setting-aside proceedings in France. The Court (i) accepted territorial jurisdiction on the basis of the claimant’s plausible intent to enforce within the jurisdiction, (ii) examined the fraud allegations with a…
Since 2019, Working Group (“WG”) V of UNCITRAL has been working on the adoption of a choice of law instrument that regulates the law applicable to the international effects of insolvency proceedings. The project seeks to include a rule on the law governing the impact of insolvency in arbitration. Part I of this post examines…
Building on Part I of this post, Part II explains the serious practical disfunctions that would derive from the adoption by Working Group V (“WG V”) at UNCITRAL of the current proposal to subject all the effects of insolvency in arbitration to the law of the State in which insolvency proceedings have been opened (the…
Riding on the waves of the Singapore Convention Week and the IP Week @ Singapore, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (“CIArb”) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (“IPOS”) co-hosted a conference on Intellectual Property (“IP”) and Technology Dispute Resolution on August 29, 2024. The event featured speakers and panelists from the Singapore and English…
On the second day of Hong Kong Arbitration Week 2024, Mishcon de Reya in association with Karas So LLP hosted a panel discussion titled “Guarding the integrity of arbitration – Reflections on the landmark English decision in Nigeria v P&ID”. The panel examined the English Commercial Court’s landmark decision to set aside a USD 11…
On 7 August 2024, the High Court of Australia (“Court”) delivered judgment in the much-anticipated Tesseract International v Pascale Construction [2024] HCA 24 in which the Court held that proportionate liability statutes apply in arbitration. This post seeks to draw attention to critical aspects of the decision of Australia’s highest court, and suggests that, properly…
The advantages of exclusive jurisdiction agreements (“EJAs”) are well known; chiefly, that of knowing where a party can sue and be sued. In Brazil, EJAs are widely used in both cross border litigation and in the context of domestic contractual relations. Even in contracts providing for arbitration, it is typical for sophisticated parties to agree…
On 12 July 2024, the Dutch Supreme Court (the “Supreme Court”) rendered its much anticipated decision on whether clauses providing for mediation as a procedural step before arbitration (or court litigation) are binding upon the parties, requiring an arbitral tribunal (or court) to decline jurisdiction to hear the case or, at least, requiring a stay…
The recent decision by the Bahrain Court of Cassation (“COC”) in Case No. 31 of 2023, issued on 8 January 2024 (“COC Judgment”), marks a significant development in the application of arbitration clauses to non-signatories for Bahrain-seated arbitrations. The case centred on the interpretation of an arbitration clause in a sub-subcontract (“Sub-Subcontract”) and its applicability…
What happens when an arbitrator refuses to answer fundamental questions about their impartiality that only they can address? Questions like, “Have you received any promises or gifts from any of the parties: Ms Aphrodite, Ms Hera or Ms Athena?” or even “Do you have any interest in or connection to Ms Helen, a person associated…
The judgment of the Singapore Court of Appeal (“Court”) in Voltas Ltd v York International Pte Ltd [2024] SGCA 12 (“Voltas v York”) helpfully settles the question of whether or not an arbitrator is able to impliedly reserve his or her jurisdiction after rendering a final award as a matter of Singapore law. Additionally, the…
On 5 May 2024, the Civil and Commercial Court of the Qatar Financial Centre (“Court”), rendered its judgment in B v C on a setting aside application brought under the QFC Arbitration Regulations 2005 (“QFC Arbitration Regulations”). This is an important judgment because it is the first Court judgment commenting on the setting aside of…
Latvia has recently taken significant steps to amend its arbitration law, introducing a set-aside mechanism among other necessary changes. This article provides an overview of the background to these changes, the specifics of the new set-aside mechanism, and other amendments made to the Latvian arbitration law. Background Elimination of any or all grounds for…
In a recent judgement rendered in H1 and another v W and others [2024] EWHC 382, the English Commercial Court removed a sole arbitrator under section 24 of the English Arbitration Act 1996 (the “EEA”). This removal was based on statements made by the arbitrator regarding the way he would treat expert witness evidence that gave rise…
On March 11, 2024, an ICSID arbitral tribunal (Juan Fernández-Armesto (President), Wendy Miles, Alexis Mourre), rendered an award in Encavis AG and Others v. Italy. The controversy follows some other 14 disputes initiated by EU investors against the Italian State under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) (some of these discussed here) and falls into the…
On 5 March 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR” or “the Court”) delivered its judgment in Iliria S.R.L. v. Albania (“Iliria”), a case concerning a complaint under Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR” or “the Convention”) relating to a more than 17-year delay in the conclusion of recognition (exequatur) proceedings…
