The new arbitration rules of the German Institution of Arbitration (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit – “DIS”) will enter into force on 1 March 2018 (“DIS Rules 2018”). It is the first revision of the DIS Rules since the current version was adopted in 1998 (“DIS Rules 1998”). The revision process involved nearly 300 persons sitting…
Historic grandeur, impressive architecture, outstanding cultural offerings, natural beauty and diversity, good value for money, beauty, safety, timelessness… Austria truly has a lot going for itself. Yet, should this still not be enough to tempt arbitration users and practitioners around the globe, the new Arbitration and Mediation Rules of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC)…
Introduction Article 48.1 FAI Rules provides that, in any international arbitration, FAI shall fix an advance on costs which the parties must pay in full before the case file is transmitted to the arbitral tribunal. Like under many other institutional arbitration rules, the starting point under the FAI cost regime is that FAI will fix…
TO: Secretary General, Arbitration Institution FROM: In-house counsel involved in a major contract negotiation Madam/Sir, We are both in-house litigation counsel for a large international company, and your institution was recently proposed for the disputes clause in an important contract. Since neither of us had any previous experience with your institution, we searched your website…
The lack of consensus on ethical standards of conduct for counsel in international arbitration has given rise to two enduring problems. First, lawyers may find it hard to know how they should act where the professional rules of their home jurisdiction differ from, or conflict with, those at the seat of arbitration. Second, parties themselves…
Overview In 2015, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria highlighted the importance of positioning Australia as one of the next significant regional commercial hubs. Her Honour reiterated this position in a 2017 speech. Interestingly, similar, yet more subtle, comments were featured in a speech in 2009. Other Australian courts have made similar…
In January 2017, the new Rules of the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry were adopted (“MAC Rules”). The Rules implement new regulations which comply with the latest tendencies in arbitration. MAC was established in 1930 in Soviet Russia and since then it administered about 4,500 disputes. In 2016 –…
Cybersecurity bears particular significance to the realm of international arbitration. In addition to the ambient cybersecurity risks faced by each participant in international arbitral proceedings, the need to share information between the parties, the tribunal and the institution for the resolution of a dispute increases the likelihood that data will be lost or breached. Arbitral…
The HKIAC Rules Revision Committee (the “Committee”) is considering amendments to the current version of the HKIAC’s Administered Arbitration Rules, which came into force on 1 November 2013 (the “2013 Rules”). The 2013 Rules, while maintaining the “light touch” approach of the 2008 Administrated Arbitration Rules, made important contributions to international arbitration by introducing unprecedented…
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (President) signed the constitutional law “On the Astana International Financial Centre” (Law) on 7 December 2015, which provides a legal framework for the establishment and operation of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). The launch of the AIFC is part of the President’s “100 Concrete Steps” Plan of…
SCC was one of the first institutions to provide for emergency arbitrator proceedings in its rules. In 2010, the new Appendix II was added to the SCC Arbitration Rules and the Rules for Expedited Arbitrations (“SCC Rules”), allowing a party in need of prompt interim relief to receive a decision from an emergency arbitrator where…
Helsinki International Arbitration Day (HIAD) is an annual arbitration conference organized by the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI). It was held for the sixth time in Helsinki on 18 May 2017. Is There a Simple Solution to Arbitration Costs Allocation? The afternoon of the conference was dedicated to the topic of…
Helsinki International Arbitration Day (HIAD) is an annual arbitration conference organized by the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI). It was held for the sixth time in Helsinki on 18 May 2017. This year, the event was organized with the support of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the ICC Finland,…
One of the most significant changes that the new Russian Arbitration Law introduced, which has been in force for past eight months, relates to the requirement of Governmental authorization for establishing an arbitral institution (more discussion on this can be found in some of previous KAB posts available here, here, here). In particular, the Russian…
Expedited arbitration procedure, which allows procedural streamlining of arbitration proceedings, became widely accepted by arbitration institutions. The ICC followed this global trend by incorporating Expedited Procedure Rules into the ICC Rules which came into force on 1 March 2017 (see here). The incorporation of expedited procedures is a response to the need to control the…
In October 2016, the ICSID advised the Member States of the ICSID Convention that it was beginning the fourth amendment process since the enactment of the definitive ICSID Arbitration Rules in 1967. The first amendment to the Rules took place in 1984 and mainly referred to the possibility to resort to national courts for provisional…
White & Case’s recent research should provide some comfort to the arbitral community by showing that arbitral institutions are becoming increasingly flexible and responsive to users’ needs. Flexibility was in fact a characteristic which the 2015 survey conducted by White & Case with Queen Mary University of London established as being one of the most…
Text books will tell you that, in its origins, the concept of arbitration as a method of resolving disputes was a simple one: two merchants, arguing over damaged merchandise, would settle their dispute by accepting the decision of a fellow merchant. And they would do so not because of any legal mandate, but because it…
In TMT Co Ltd v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc [2017] SGHC 21, the Singapore High Court took the view that an arbitration clause did not meet the prima facie standard to warrant a stay of court proceedings because it designated an inapplicable arbitral institution. Commentators have suggested that the decision is “surprising” and…
Since 1 January 2017, national and international media companies can initiate arbitration proceedings with the German Media Arbitral Tribunal (Deutsches Medienschiedsgericht – “DMS”). The DMS, which was established in 2016 in Leipzig, is a specialized arbitral institution that exclusively deals with media law disputes. In addition to arbitration proceedings, the DMS offers conciliation proceedings and…
As of 1 February 2017 shareholders in a Russian company may refer their corporate law disputes to arbitration. Still, except for disputes from share purchase agreements or those involving securities registrars, having an arbitration clause in a company charter, a shareholders’ agreement (“SHA“), or elsewhere which submits corporate disputes to arbitration is not enough. A…
On 1 January 2017, the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (‘ACICA’) released a new Guideline on the Use of Tribunal Secretaries. This new Guideline addresses a silence in the existing ACICA Arbitration Rules as to the scope for tribunals to appoint arbitral secretaries, and the basis upon which they might be appointed. This post…
2016 was an important year for international arbitration. Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales challenged the legitimacy of international arbitration, while supporters such as former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (Robert French AC) came forward to defend its coexistence with commercial courts. Several institutions such as ACICA, SIAC and KCAB updated…
Appellate arbitration clauses provide for an appellate mechanism against an award rendered between the concerned parties by subjecting the dispute through another arbitration to eliminate all potential errors and obtain correction of the same. Not all arbitration disputes are suitable for an appellate review. But in cases where parties place higher importance on the correctness…
