The DIS Autumn Conference, held on 10 September 2024, was the main event of the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days, which took place from 9 to 12 September 2024 and were jointly organized by the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), the Federal Ministry of Justice, and the Humboldt University in Berlin. Set against the vibrant backdrop of…
Against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, numerous commercial disputes have arisen. In a (further) significant ruling dated 1 June 2023, the Higher Regional Court Berlin (Kammergericht or the “Court”) reinforced the integrity of arbitration by confirming the admissibility of arbitration to the exclusion of (Russian) state courts (Case No. 12 SchH 5/22)….
In a decision of 1 June 2023 (Case No. 12 SchH 5/22) that was praised as landmark, the Higher Regional Court of Berlin (Kammergericht) (“KG”) addressed some of the legal issues arising from the complex dispute between Siemens and Russian Railroads (“RZhD”) concerning the unilateral termination of an electric trains maintenance and repair contract by…
On 12 July 2024, more than 25 years after adopting its current arbitration law, the German government agreed on a draft reform law (“Draft Law”). It is based on a White Paper issued in April 2023 (reported here), including comments received thereon (see here). The now adopted version (dated 26 June 2024, to be submitted…
On 12 April 2024, the Regional Court of Essen (“LG Essen”) dismissed Spain’s request for an anti-enforcement injunction of an intra-EU investor-state arbitration award (2 O 447/22). The LG Essen held that anti-enforcement injunctions are inadmissible because they violate state sovereignty. This blog post will cover the facts and background of the decision, examine the…
The analysis of the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht – the “Court”) dated 3 June 2022 (1 BvR 2103/16) in the Pechstein case (the “Pechstein Decision”, also covered in a previous post) shows constitutional limits to arbitration agreements that are externally determined, i.e., agreements whose content can be de facto determined unilaterally by…
Since March 15, 2024, the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) offers a one-of-its kind solution to make third-party notices work also in arbitration: The Supplementary Rules for Third-Party Notices (DIS-TPNR). The DIS-TPNR are the work product of a DIS working group which was established in 2021. The authors of this post have had a leading role…
Large arbitral awards have generally given rise to multi-jurisdictional post-award litigation (see Yukos). The Deutsche Telekom v India saga is a similar instance, with the Republic of India (“India”) having challenged the arbitral awards before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“seat court”) and the courts in Germany, Singapore, and the United States (“US”) (“enforcement courts”)….
One of Germany’s most prestigious arbitration-related events, the “Petersberg Arbitration Days” (Petersberger Schiedstage) was held for the twentieth time on 23 and 24 February 2024. The organizers of the annual conference, the Beck Academy and the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) focused this year’s event on a difficult but contemporaneous topic: how international crises create additional…
The German Federal Court of Justice (“BGH”) set off a heated debate when it vacated an arbitral award based on the false application of certain sections of the German Competition Act (GWB) on September 27, 2022 (BGH KZB 75/21), conducting a full review of the arbitral award on the merits. German practitioners were concerned that…
There is a debate about whether courts and arbitral tribunals should be involved in the amicable resolution of disputes. Different jurisdictions deal with this issue in different ways. This post considers the approaches taken by courts and tribunals in Germany, England and Wales, and Singapore to examine whether courts or tribunals in these jurisdictions, on…
Is emergency arbitration’s Achilles’ heel? Or the most effective route out? In which scenarios are parties better advised to turn to state courts for interim relief? Will commercial courts become the new kids on the block, offering a better bet than (emergency) arbitrators for cross-border disputes? These were only a few of the questions discussed…
On 14 September 2023, the DIS Autumn Conference “A World Map of Arbitration in the 21st Century – and What to Find in Germany” showcased Germany’s eminent position in the field. While arbitration hubs like Paris and London enjoy widespread renown, Germany, often underappreciated internationally, offers its own legacy and contemporary prowess. As summarised in…
Large cases with detailed, extensive submissions and hundreds, if not thousands, of annexes, often lead to a degree of complexity that is hardly digestible. The handling of such cases, most prominently of delay and disruption claims, therefore poses a challenge to practitioners, experts and arbitrators. Common law jurisdictions have developed a specific way to deal…
Can an arbitration agreement be binding on a party that did not sign it? Generally, an arbitration agreement only binds its signatories. This is a transnational principle, also anchored in the German Constitution. There are, however, widely accepted exceptions. This article examines the extension of arbitration agreements to third parties under the requirements of Sec. 25(1)…
The German Federal Ministry of Justice published a White Paper on the Modernization of German Arbitration Law (unofficially translated by the DIS) on 18 April 2023. Its primary goal is to adapt the law to today’s needs to enhance its efficiency and strengthen Germany’s attractiveness as an arbitration venue. This post details the twelve issues…
The DIS Spring Conference, one of the DIS’s two main annual conferences, attracted over 300 participants and took place in Munich on 3 May 2023 after the traditional Gala Dinner on the eve of the conference. The conference set off with a welcome note by Dr. Rouven F. Bodenheimer (DIS), introducing the theme of the…
Whenever courts annul an arbitral award on the grounds of substantive public policy, there is typically an outcry. Especially amongst arbitrators. And even more when the court analyzes the merits of the award and holds that the arbitral panel incorrectly applied the law. This is exactly what the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichsthof, the…
On 1 September 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne (“HRC Cologne”) issued two much-awaited decisions granting the Netherlands’ requests (see our report here) to have the German claimants’, RWE and Uniper, ECT-based ICSID arbitrations declared inadmissible pursuant to section 1032(2) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (“ZPO”) due to their intra-EU nature. As we reported,…
The arbitration world’s most famous ice skater, Claudia Pechstein, has won a stage victory in her long-lasting and widely discussed struggle against the international sports arbitration system. On June 3, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG), Beschluss vom 3.6.2022, 1 BvR 2103/16) sided with Pechstein in her constitutional complaint against a ruling of the…
Germany found itself as the hotseat of the “battle” between EU law and investment arbitration in May 2016 when the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) referred questions relating to the compatibility of EU law with the arbitration clause in the Slovakia-Netherlands BIT to the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) in Slovakia v….
Frankfurt am Main (“Frankfurt“) – Germany’s No. 1 city for international arbitration – could serve as a cost-effective and safe seat for international disputes. A “safe seat” of arbitration offers a fair, just and cost-efficient dispute resolution mechanism by offering effective arbitral law and practice (see here). The criteria for distinguishing a safe seat of arbitration…
The Achmea saga has taken yet another twist. In a recent communication to the Dutch Parliament, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate disclosed that it initiated “anti-arbitration” proceedings before the German courts on 11 May 2021 to “avert” two ECT-based ICSID arbitrations brought against it by the German energy companies RWE and Uniper (“Communication”)….
“I want the truth! … You can’t handle the truth!” – Hollywood’s infamous shouting match in “A Few Good Men” may have forever ruined every client’s expectation of a measured cross-examination. But the struggle to ascertain the truth remains real in international arbitration. Tribunals and counsel frequently face the tough question of what exactly they…
