In a recent judgment providing a preliminary ruling in the case, Apple Sales International et al. v. EBizcuss.com (C-595/17, October 24, 2018) (“EBizcuss.com”), the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) affirmed that jurisdiction clauses subject to EU law may be enforced by Member State courts in the context of actions for damages for…
Arbitral institutions commonly offer model arbitration clauses for parties to incorporate into their contracts. Gary Born has stated that “[i]n the overwhelming majority of cases, … international arbitration agreements are straightforward exercises, adopting either entirely or principally the model, time-tested clauses of a leading arbitral institution.”1) Gary B. Born, International Commercial Arbitration 212 (2d ed….
On 6 November 2018, the ICC, in collaboration with Al Tamimi & Company, hosted the first Kuwait Arbitration Day. This involved practitioners from across the Middle East and beyond coming together and discussing the latest developments and trends within arbitration. The event attracted over 100 participants who attended despite the day being announced as an…
The applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) to arbitral proceedings is a complex issue. The recent decision of the European Court for Human Rights (“ECtHR”) in the so-called Mutu/Pechstein cases brings some clarification in this regard, but also raises some new questions1)ECtHR, Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland, Decision of 2 October 2018,…
Since the inaugural programme in 2014, arbitration practitioners from the MENA region and beyond have come together to share and discuss recent developments in the field of international arbitration during the Dubai Arbitration Week, an annual event that takes place in November. Dubai Arbitration Week 2018 was no exception. It was full of seminars, conferences,…
In our post last month, we discussed the potential impact of Brexit on the choice of law to govern a contract and the law applicable to non-contractual claims. We also discussed that parties and party counsels should consider revisiting their choice of law strategies, but that in doing so, they should be conscious of the…
In a conventional investment dispute, the claimant seeks compensation for the impairment of its substantive investment in the territory of the host state. Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Ltd v Lesotho arose out of mining investments made by the claimants in Lesotho in the 1990s. However, this arbitral proceeding was not concerned directly with the impairment…
Document production is one of the most important and controversial topics in international arbitration. Some practitioners consider the document production as “an essential element of justice”, whereas some others consider it as “a waste of time and money”. So, where does the truth lie? Does Common Law Provide Better Justice than Civil Law or Vice…
For AfricArb It is twelve years since an ICSID tribunal dismissed World Duty Free’s claim against the Republic of Kenya for breach of a lease agreement signed in 1989. As is well known, the claimant obtained the contract with a $2 million bribe to former President Moi, and the tribunal held, inter alia, that it…
Over the last century, arbitration has established itself as one of the most popular means for resolving commercial disputes1) Gary B. Born, ‘Chapter 1: Overview of International Commercial Arbitration’, International Commercial Arbitration (2nd edition, Kluwer Law International 2014), 6–224, at 93-97; Queen Mary University London, 2015 International Arbitration Survey: Improvements and Innovations in Arbitration. and…
Introduction On November 21, 2018, the Swedish Parliament adopted revisions to the Swedish Arbitration Act with the aim of modernizing it to further facilitate effective and attractive international and domestic arbitration in Sweden. The welcomed revisions will become effective for arbitrations commenced from March 1, 2019,1) The exceptions for application to arbitrations commenced after…
After introduction by the French Arbitration Committee’s (Comité Français de l’Arbitrage or “CFA”) President, Mr. Laurent Jaeger, Mr. Yves Derains started his speech on “The Professionalism of the Arbitrator” by saying that arbitration has become the natural way to resolve international disputes.1) This note was based on Mr. Yves Derains’ speech at the 10 October 2018 Conference of the French…
In this continuing series of blog posts, we have been using Dispute Resolution Data (DRD)’s growing repository of international arbitration case data to analyze the extent to which such cases reach various outcomes, whether it be an award being rendered, administrative closure, dismissal, impasse, or settlement/withdrawal (which we treat as a single, distinct outcome). Our…
In February 2018, the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow issued a ruling1) Ruling of the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow dated 8 February 2018, case No. A40-176466/17-83-1232. denying the recognition and enforcement of an ICC award issued in favor of Dredging and Maritime Management SA (Luxembourg) against JSC Inzhtransstroy…
The advent of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018 within the EU and the European Economic Area, has sparked a renewed debate within the arbitration community about importance of adequate consideration being given to the collection, preservation and protection of data in arbitral proceedings. The GDPR…
The title of this post may, at a first sight, seem rather odd, but this author submits that choice of a governing contract law can actually be explained using ice cream as an analogy. Assuming an individual generally likes ice cream, a question that arises is whether any thought has ever gone into why…
Introduction: Two of the most frequent buzz words in our world right now are without doubt: Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Both technologies have definitely grabbed the attention of the international arbitration community, however, most of the current literature contemplates far-fetched scenarios and how these technologies can revolutionize the world of international arbitration. These articles…
The lower house of the Indian Parliament recently passed the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill 2018 (“Bill”) to amend the arbitration law. If also passed by the upper house of Parliament, and upon receiving the President’s assent, this will become a law. It will then come into force when the Government so notifies. The Law…
Party Appointed Arbitrators and the Drive for Diversity Over the last 8 years, BCLP’s International Arbitration Group has conducted a number of surveys on issues affecting the arbitration process. In 2017 the survey focused on the issue of diversity [Diversity on Arbitral Tribunals: Are we getting there?] and in 2018 on the issue of party…
Are litigation, arbitration and mediation competitive, collaborative or cooperative? Is litigation becoming an “alternative” to “alternative dispute resolution”, especially keeping arbitration on top of its game? Are mixed processes or combined regimes becoming the preference? These questions were part of the timely and timeless theme for this year’s Taipei International Conference on Arbitration and Mediation…
On 2 May 2018, the maiden edition of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Arbitration in Africa Survey was launched at the SOAS Arbitration in Africa Research Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. The survey, conducted using an online questionnaire, focused on perspectives of African arbitration practitioners in domestic and international arbitration. The insufficiency of…
The authors write this contribution strictly in their own name. Most arbitration laws require parties to identify in their arbitration agreement the “defined legal relationship” for which they wish to submit disputes to arbitration. Nonetheless, this requirement has given rise to little case law in practice. In a judgment of 29 August 2018 (“Judgment”), however,…
Recently, CRC Press published Data-Driven Law: Data Analytics and the New Legal Services by Edward J. Walters. The volume’s contributed chapters cover a wide range of topics at various levels of mathematical rigor, but they all underscore the importance of how data science can greatly improve the quality and efficiency of the legal process from…
It’s been decades since arbitration has started its emancipation from conflict of laws rules (private international law). Many were of the opinion, and still are, that conflict of laws rules are an undesirable straitjacket forcing the arbitral tribunal to determine the applicable law according to rigid and complicated rules and thus hindering it from considering…
