According to the last “Scoreboard” published by the European Commission in 2015 regarding the civil justice system in each Member State, the average length of first instance proceedings in Italy is 608 days. Only Cyprus and Malta take more time to reach a decision. As if this was not enough, the number of proceedings which…
Third party funding (“TPF”) has attracted a great deal of attention from the legal community, as it offers significant advantages and poses serious risks for international arbitration. Besides guaranteeing access to justice for those who are financially incapable of bearing the costs of an arbitration proceeding, the funded party will most certainly benefit from limiting…
by Anja Havedal Ipp, Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce A year into the sanctions regime, the arbitration community is trying to assess and predict its impact on Russia-related arbitration. Some commentators have drawn somewhat exaggerated conclusions. An October 22 post at the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, for example, talked about Russia’s “seismic shift” toward…
by Velimir Živković, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Law Imagine that in the heyday of post-Cold War period State A concluded a number of bilateral investment treaties (”BITs”) with a number of countries. Due to a variety of factors, these lay dormant for decades as State A is not exposed to investor…
In 2009, Georgia adopted a new Law on Arbitration (“Law on Arbitration”) based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration with amendments as adopted in 2006 (“Model Law”). Shortly thereafter, Mr. Michael Wietzorek commented on the implementation of the new law on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog (here) and qualified this as a “significant…
In January 2015, a new arbitration institution, under somewhat ambiguous name of the Civil Arbitration Court (“Parnični arbitražni sud”) [“CAC”], was established. The program and rules provided by the CAC reveal its dedication to provide parties with an alternative forum for the resolution of disputes related to small claims, as in accordance with the principles…
In September 2015 the UNCITRAL Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation) continued its work on formulating legal framework on the enforcement of settlement agreements, including a convention, model provisions or guidance texts. Currently, parties can request arbitration tribunals to record their settlement agreements as consent awards, i.e. an arbitral award on terms agreed upon by…
In the landscape of international investment arbitration the allegations of corruption have become more and more common. Confronted with investor’s claims before an arbitral tribunal, host states employ all possible legal arguments available to avoid potential liability and the subsequent payment of compensation. Investor’s corrupt acts have emerged as a potentially viable state defense in…
It is fair to say that arbitration is already a widespread dispute mechanism in Portugal, broadly used not only for commercial disputes but also for disputes in other areas such as, for example, consumer, administrative and tax disputes. As for intellectual property, the possibility of submitting disputes to arbitration has been a reality in Portugal…
Public policy remains one of the most popular grounds used by the parties to oppose the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award. Its vague content also makes its application in court greatly challenging – academics still refer to public policy as the “unruly horse”. This creates a significant responsibility for the courts to find…
Recently, Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor, warned about the dangers of TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). “We know we’re going to need regulations to restrict the emissions of carbon,” Stiglitz said. “But under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments…
“ISDS” (short for “investor-state dispute settlement”) was a less-known acronym some years back. Now, it has been given an increasingly bad name, no doubt fuelled by Vattenfall’s claim against Germany following the shutting down of its nuclear plants after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, tobacco giant Philip Morris’ high profile claims arising from Australia’s plain-labelling laws,…
Introduction On 1 January 2016, the Act on Promoting Amicable Dispute Resolution Methods (dated 10 September 2015, published on 13 October 2015, Official Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, item 1595), available in Polish here (“Amendment”), which was a subject of my previous post, will come into force. The Amendment is the first…
Fellow Kluwer arbitration blogger, Duarte Henriques, recently started a Facebook page dedicated to discussing topical issues in international arbitration. The page regularly features “memes” all aspects of the practice. Below are a few. When international arbitration meets social media, no one is spared. – – – – – – – – – – – –…
The Russian company law is contained in three main sources: in Chapter 4 of the Russian Civil Code, and two special laws – on joint-stock companies (AOs) of 25.12.1995 and on limited liability companies (OOOs) of 08.02.1998 – both based on the Civil Code. The prevailing part of the company law contained in the Civil…
One of the main and well known advantages of arbitration is the speed of the proceedings. In order to enhance their timeliness and efficiency, the Rules of some arbitral institutions (e.g. Art. 33 of the ICC Rules) provide for the so called “scrutiny of the award” – a procedure of formal examination of the draft…
The Report of the International Finance Corporation [IFC] “Investing Across Borders” for the year 2010 outlined that a stable, predictable arbitration regime, as a part of broader framework for the rule of law, is one of the factors that drive foreign investment and it should be country’s top priority. Despite the fact that reforming an…
On July 18, 2014 the Cassation Court – the highest court in Armenia, in the case EKD/1910/02/13 delivered a decision (“Decision”) which paralyzed the whole arbitration system in the country. In the mentioned case the Cassation Court (“Court”) needed to answer a question whether an arbitral tribunal was entitled to decide the matter of invalidity…
„The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority […]. They contradict their parents […] and tyrannize their teachers.“ This complaint sounds familiar, but the quote is actually attributed to Socrates. As every generation after him seems to have had the same sensation, children’s behaviour must have constantly deteriorated over the last…
The New Amparo Law in Mexico introduced a revised concept of “responsible authority”, under which arbitrators might be considered as authorities for amparo claim purposes. Such new concept poses some interrogations: Does it threatens arbitration in Mexico? Would arbitration withstand the pounding? Would the parties’ agreement to arbitrate be enforced? Would the courts stand up…
In 2012, Russian art collector Dmitry Rybolovlev acquired a painting made by Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian artist whose work from the early 20th century is regularly sold for record prices, from art dealer Yves Bouvier for an amount of no less than US $ 118 million. Two years later, Rybolovlev learned by chance that Bouvier…
Co-authored with William Kenny, Intern at HKIAC A View from Inside A foreword by Victor Dumler, Dumler and Partners Law Offices, St Petersburg. Over the last two decades, Russia-related disputes have become a considerable part of “Russia’s export” into Western Europe. Yet, after more than a year living under the sanctions regime, the situation is…
Under sec 1 of the RF Law on International Commercial Arbitration 5338-1 of 07.07.1993, disputes arising from civil, including corporate, relationships may be referred to international commercial arbitration, unless otherwise provided by law. However, there is no such restriction provided. In some cases, such as Novolipetsk Still Mill (NLMK) v. Nikolay Maksimov (Decrees of the…
While everyone has been watching with fascination the ups and downs of the Greek crisis, colleagues have been busy in the background trying to unravel some core components of the Greek Bailouts. The PSI deal, which is largely responsible for passing the burden of any potential Greek default from private hands onto public coffers, has…
