Introduction On 23 July 2018, this blog posted a commentary entitled “Choice of Remedies Doctrine – A Jack-In-The-Box?” The commentary explored the Singapore High Court’s decision in Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd v Avant Garde Maritime Services (Private) Limited [2018] SGHC 78 (“Rakna”), and its implications. The commentary also revisited the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision…
The Supreme Court of India (“Court”) in a landmark decision titled “BCCI vs. Kochi Cricket Pvt. Ltd. (previously covered in a blog post) clarified the applicability of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“Amendment Act”) to pending arbitration and court proceedings commenced under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“1996 Act”). The Court held…
Sometimes, the establishment needs to step aside to let the next promising generation create a new way forward: So it commences with entrepreneurial students at the University of Miami, combining talents of engineering, technology, and international law and arbitration. It is by thinking out of the box that disruptive changes happen and they must in…
Allegations of fraud and forgery of a sales agreement are for an arbitral tribunal to decide and a party should not ignore a notice of arbitration. This is according to a federal judge who enforced an award against a party that claimed the agreement was forged and did not participate in the arbitral proceedings. On…
Background on CIETAC Split Up until May 1, 2012 CIETAC had a branch in Shanghai named CIETAC Shanghai Sub-commission (the “Old Sub-commission”). This Old Sub-commission used the same CIETAC arbitration rules but was administered by a secretariat semi-independent of that of the head office of CIETAC in Beijing. On May 1, 2012 CIETAC launched its…
In a recent decision, Turkey’s Court of Cassation refused to enforce an arbitration clause in an English language contract between a Turkish party and a foreign party based on Turkey’s national language requirement for commercial enterprises, the Code on the Mandatory Usage of the Turkish Language in Commercial Enterprises No. 805 (“Law No. 805”). The…
The Inauguration On 2 July 2018, CIETAC established its second arbitration centre outside mainland China – the North America Arbitration Center in Vancouver, Canada. Co-organised by CIETAC and the Vancouver Economic Commission, the inauguration ceremony was graced by the presence of the Honourable Bruce Ralston, Minister of Jobs, Trade and Technology of the Government of…
The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) has its own scope – it states that it “shall apply to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards”. Only decisions made by arbitrators are to be considered “awards” within the meaning of the New York Convention1)UNCITRAL Secretariat Guide on the…
A focus on the AIFC Arbitration and Mediation Rules 2018 and improvement to enforcement of arbitral awards in Kazakhstan Introduction to the AIFC The Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is a financial hub in Kazakhstan that came into operation this year. The purpose of the AIFC is to establish itself as a key centre for…
The New York Convention’s 60th Anniversary renewed the debate about its future. One must recognize that a treaty that is sixty years old and has been ratified in almost 160 countries can no longer be replaced. Even with compatibility clauses, provisions that would provide for retroactive application and the other tools that the Vienna Convention…
What Is the Future of the New York Convention as a Primary Means for Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Across the Globe? Is There Any Future at All?1)UNCITRAL will be having several celebrations in June. At these occasions, thought leaders will reflect on the last 60 years and give their prognoses on the next 60 years….
The Indian Parliament passed the Indian Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 (“Amendment Act”) in a bid to refresh and reform the existing arbitration regime under the existing Arbitration Act. Ironically, the Amendment Act spiralled new waves of persistent ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the applicability of these amendments to pending as well as fresh proceedings…
Considering what the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) said in its Judgment of 6 March 2018, under Case C‑284/16, widely known as the “Achmea judgment” (“Achmea”), one begs the question: How this should be perceived in practice? Because, when interpreting EU law not to be compatible with BIT-based dispute resolution, or vice…
Introduction The issues pertaining to “sovereign immunity” in international arbitration are not new. Nevertheless, several aspects remain unresolved.1)Kaj Hobér, Sovereign Immunity and International Arbitration – Recent developments, Arbitrators’ Insights, Essays in Honour of Neil Kaplan (Sweet & Maxwell, 2012), 91. Sovereign immunity from execution is said to be “the last fortress, the last bastion of State…
The world after the Achmea v Slovakia decision focuses on the question about the future of ISDS in relation to intra-EU BITs. At the ASIL conference on the 6 April 2018, a representative of the EU observed the decision in the Achmea case as one that was perhaps a natural consequence of the intricacies of…
The Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters of 27 September 1968 was superseded by Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. The latter was subsequently repealed by Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 of the…
The ICC Rules introduced expedited procedure with effect from March 01, 2017. With this, the ICC joined the league of other leading arbitration institutions such as SIAC, LCIA and HKIAC who had already incorporated expedited procedure. Courts across the globe have delivered uniform decisions, views in interpreting party autonomy except for a decision by the…
“Enforcement” of arbitral awards is one of the main selling points of arbitration, with the perception being that nothing yet comes close to the New York Convention to enforce court judgments. The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements will assist when adopted by more countries. For now, the mere uttering of the incantation “enforceability”…
In the midst of the second edition of the Paris Arbitration Week, Jeantet hosted, on Thursday 12 April 2018, a roundtable on the topic “Arbitrating with States in CEE & CIS”. The speakers of the roundtable were: Cosmin Vasile (Zamfirescu Racoti & Partners), Yas Banifatemi (Shearman & Sterling), Davor Babić (University of Zagreb), Yasmin Mohammad…
For the past few years, Brazil has gained recognition as an “arbitration-friendly” seat when it comes to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. However, last year, in a groundbreaking decision, the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (in Portuguese, “Superior Tribunal de Justiça” or “STJ”) denied recognition of two US arbitral awards. Abengoa has appealed from…
The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“Convention”), 1958 was adopted by Pakistan on 14 July 2005 through the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Ordinance, 2005. This was re-promulgated in the years 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 until it was finally enacted in 2011 (“2011 Act”). …
“We simply cannot go on with this utterly outmoded way of working…Endlessly re-keying in the same information; repeatedly printing and photocopying the same documents; moving files about, losing all or parts of them in the process… It is a heavy handed, duplicative, inefficient and costly way of doing our work and it is all about…
It has been on the cards for many years. But on 6 February 2018, days before the Kuwait reconstruction conference, the Iraqi cabinet officially agreed to endorse the ratification of New York Convention of 1958 and table it with Parliament. The decision finally to accede to the treaty coincides with the eradication of Da-esh…
The views expressed herein are the personal views of the authors and do not reflect those of their law firm. In France, until recently, rules governing the issue of sovereign immunity from enforcement, and in particular those setting out the scope and conditions under which such immunities apply, derived from case law. Although relevant international…
