Authors: Geoff Hansen, Partner and Jennifer Galatas, Senior Associate1)The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Nuwan Dias in preparing this article. 1. Introduction – APRAG and Beyond On 27 to 28 March 2014, international dispute experts converged on Melbourne, Australia to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Asia-Pacific Regional Arbitration Group (APRAG) Conference. APRAG is…
The most quintessential element of international arbitration is an impartial, independent and neutral tribunal. Where impartiality and independence of the arbitrators is equated with direct relation to or bias towards one of the parties, neutrality is related to the nationality of the arbitrator. In international sphere, the “appearance of neutrality” is considered equally important, meaning…
Facts The applicant, Darie Engineering (Darie), and the first respondent, Alstom Transport SA (Alstom), had a business relationship spanning over 20 years in which Darie acted as Alstom’s representative in the transportation sector in Israel. Darie filed an action against Alstom and the second respondent, Alstom Israel Ltd. (the Respondents), in the Israeli District Court,…
The Competence-Competence Principle is a fundamental principle of international arbitration. It is recognized in article 8 of Brazilian Arbitration Law. However, in Companhia de Geração Térmica de Energia Elétrica – CGTEE v. Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau Bankengruppe, the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Appeals raised some doubts about it is applicability in Brazil. (Rio Grande…
As leading jurisdictions around the world continue to establish national courts dedicated to the oversight of international arbitration issues, one wonders whether this is an idea whose time has come. This issue was previously discussed on this blog in September 2010. Much progress has been made in the intervening years. The most recent jurisdiction to…
and Luis Miguel Velarde Saffer Last December, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on BG Group v Argentina – an appeal from a controversial and much-criticized decision of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case arose out of emergency actions taken by the Republic of Argentina in late 2001 in the wake of…
A number of decisions of various national courts have dealt with the issue whether a competition law dispute may be referred to arbitration. Although the case law tends to favour a positive answer, it is still an issue that is being continuously brought up in litigation as an easy way out of arbitration clauses. This…
In the recent decision of the Tel-Aviv District Court in S. Elia Holdings Ltd. and Arie Shasha v. Ron Itzhaky, the plaintiffs were effectively estopped from bringing claims against a non-signatory under a contract containing an arbitration clause. The plaintiffs in the case are a private Israeli company engaged in real-estate entrepreneurship (“Elia Holdings”) and…
By Justin D’Agostino and Yi-Shun Teoh In the latest instalment of Pacific China Holdings Ltd (in Liquidation) v Grand Pacific Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has confirmed that parties who unsuccessfully challenge arbitral awards will generally be ordered to pay costs on the indemnity basis. This is a relatively rare and…
and Anna Tkachova, Asters Court practice shows that sometimes while considering applications on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards, Ukrainian courts apply Ukrainian legislation in an arbitrary manner. In this post we will analyze the legal grounds used by Ukrainian courts in consideration of an application seeking recognition and enforcement of an award issued…
and Ievgen Boiarskyi, Junior Associate at AstapovLawyers It is widely accepted that successful outcome of international commercial arbitration proceedings often depends on timely obtained provisional measures designed to protect either the lawful interests of the parties or property in dispute until the final arbitral award on the merits is issued. Although provisional measures may be…
[Written with the assistance of Nina Tandon and Andrew Behrman of Hogan Lovells US LLP] A recent ruling from a U.S. federal district court has highlighted an emerging doctrine in United States courts with respect to a party’s ability to seek provisional remedies from a court in support of international arbitration. The recent ruling, together…
By Alessandro Villani and Manuela Caccialanza One of the more debated issues in the process of the implementation and review of Regulation No. 44/2001 (“Brussels Regulation”) was the general exclusion of arbitration from the matters covered by the Brussels Regulation. The debate about the opportunity to mitigate such exclusion arises from the subsequent difficulty in…
A brief history Arbitration has been a part of the laws of El Salvador for more than a hundred years. The Constitution of 1983 clearly states in Article 23 that every citizen of the country has the right to terminate his or her civil or commercial matters through arbitration. July 2002 marked a dramatic change…
A recent ruling of the Dubai Court of First Instance (see Case No. 489/2012, ruling of the Dubai Court of First Instance of 18 December 2012) questions de novo the UAE courts’ compliance with their obligations under international enforcement instruments in the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Following the recent trend of consolidation of the…
The recent Portuguese Voluntary Arbitration Law, which has been in force since 14 March 2012, (English version available here), was received with great enthusiasm amongst the legal community, which claimed for a new arbitration law that could bring to Portugal a regulatory framework closer to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. The goal…
Arbitration is underpinned by natural justice. Article 18 of the Model Law, enshrining the right of the parties to be treated with equality, and given a full opportunity to present their case, was described by UNCITRAL in 1985 as the “Magna Carta of Arbitral Procedure”. Yet the Model Law does not in Articles 34 and…
The recent revisions to the Chinese Civil Procedure Law (the “CPL”) made some significant amendments to the arbitration law in China. In particular, the new CPL for the first time provides for pre-arbitration preservation measures to be available from the Chinese courts. The revisions will come into force on 1 January 2013. Under the existing…
In a recent ruling of 18 October 2012, the Dubai Court of Cassation, the highest court in the Emirate of Dubai, against whose judgments lies no further appeal, confirmed the enforcement of a trilogy of DIFC-LCIA awards – one on liability and two on costs (all forming part of the same reference) – rendered by…
Arbitration practitioners often put Ukraine below the average ranking of countries in terms of recognition of arbitration. Ukraine’s image of a not entirely arbitration-friendly jurisdiction is “promoted” with common thought about problematic enforcement of arbitral awards in Ukraine. In well-known case “Regent Company v. Ukraine”, the European Court of Human Rights (in its decision of…
In a recently published decision dated 6 August 2012 (4A_119/2012), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirmed its own jurisprudence according to which state courts facing a jurisdictional defense based on an alleged arbitration agreement must not assess in full the validity of the arbitration agreement. In such cases, the state court must limit itself to a summary examination of whether or not a valid arbitration agreement exists.
During a bitter battle with anti-doping authorities, international cycling champion Lance Armstrong publicly campaigned against the anti-doping arbitration process. Armstrong’s offensive provides insights into widespread misconceptions about arbitration. On 20 August 2012, a U.S. Federal District Court dismissed Armstrong’s petition to enjoin the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA) from further pursuing allegations that he was part…
and Julia Popelysheva, Clifford Chance LLP Introduction On 19 June 2012 the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation (“SAC RF“) issued a decree (“Decree“) in case No. VAS-1831/12 in which it examined the validity of an optional jurisdictional clause. The full text of the Decree setting out the rationale for the…
As explored in some detail in Part I of this blog post, recent UAE supervisory court case law has heralded a new era of enforcement of international awards in strict compliance with the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards (the “New York Convention”). To recap, the Maxtel line of…
