On November 22, 2019, the acting government of Spain passed a long-anticipated legislation in response to more than four dozen of international arbitrations that, since late 2013, have been filed continuously against the country.1)See Clifford J. Hendel & María Antonia Pérez, ‘The Past, Present and Possible Future of the Spanish Renewable Energy Arbitration Saga,’ New…

2019 has been a busy year for international arbitration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the year has brought an interesting wave of precedents, new domestic statutes, modern international investment agreements, and arbitration events. This post highlights and summarises some of the African developments covered in the Blog in 2019, with many thanks to the authors who…

The swift and far-reaching development experienced by arbitration in Spain over the past few decades is unprecedented in the context of other arbitration-friendly jurisdictions. In little more than 40 years, a fully-fledged arbitration system was set up virtually from scratch. In 1977 Spain ratified the New York Convention without reservation, thus entering the international arbitration…

The Vienna Convention rules for treaty interpretation (VCLT) routinely referred to by all international courts and tribunals are known to be the result of a compromise between different schools of interpretation and therefore notoriously flexible, in my view too flexible for the purposes of modern-day international dispute resolution. Cases are therefore won and lost according…

On 24 October 2019, the European Commission announced that the EU Member States have reached agreement on a plurilateral treaty for the termination of all ca. 190 intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The agreement follows the political Declarations of the Member States issued in January this year in which they explained the consequences they are…

In its recent decision T-354/2019, the Colombian Constitutional Court, through one of its chambers, declared that arbitration awards, issued in international arbitrations seated in Colombia, may be subject to constitutional challenges by means of the so-called acción de tutela.1)The acción de tutela is similar to the so-called recurso de amparo, a constitutional injunction widely known…

Under French law, the principle is that both a request to set aside an award and an appeal of a decision upholding enforcement (ordonnance d’exequatur) have no suspensive effect (Article 1526(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, ‘CCP’), so that an international arbitral award is immediately enforceable. However, as an exception, stay or adjustment of…

Essential Role of Effective Case Management in Arbitration Throughout the second half of the 20th century, arbitration has become a dominant and preferred method for resolving international disputes. Its advantages are widely known. This being said, international arbitration suffers nowadays from increasing costs and duration of the proceedings. It is less efficient than it promises….

On August 6, 2019, the Fifth Revision Chamber of Colombia’s Constitutional Court (the “Court”) issued judgment T-354/19 resolving a constitutional injunction (tutela)1)The tutela is a constitutional injunction that aims to protect fundamental constitutional rights when they are violated or threatened by the action or omission of any public authority. This mechanism is incorporated in Article…

Introduction With less than a month to go before the latest EU-UK divorce date, the UK Supreme Court resumed its hearing in Micula et al. v Romania 2018/0177, relating to the enforcement of the widely discussed ICSID award against Romania. With the UK grappling with its future relationship with the EU, it is interesting timing…

With over $3 billion invested by Vedanta Resources in Zambia since it became a shareholder in Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in 2004, it is a less optimistic turn of events with Vedanta Resources and fellow shareholder, the government-owned Zambian State Mining Company ZCCM-IH (ZCCM), being at loggerheads in arbitration. In this post, we examine what…

The United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (‘New York Convention’) stipulates in Article III that enforcement of foreign arbitral awards should not be subject to more onerous conditions, higher fees or charges than those that are imposed on enforcement of domestic arbitral awards. However, the Czech Supreme Court (‘CSC’)…

The topic of precedent in international arbitration is not an idle one. It is widely accepted that the existence and use of precedent in any legal system leads to predictability, consistency and equality of treatment. Indeed, one of the eight strands that according to the late Lord Bingham (as summarised by Lord Neuberger) make up…

Recently, focus has been brought upon the use of international arbitration to solve human rights abuses caused by businesses (“BHR Arbitration“). Disputes involving human rights violations often occur between parties of unequal financial means and commercial sophistication, and in countries which cannot offer an efficient and free from corruption judicial system. Arbitration has the potential…

With as many as nine identified approaches to the potential applicable law to the arbitration agreement, Marc Blessing, as an experienced author, arbitrator and lawyer, could not help but ask: “Are we thus faced with a magnificent confusion?”.1)“The Law Applicable to the Arbitration Clause” 1999, in Improving the Efficiency of Arbitration Agreements and Awards: 40…

This post analyses the decisions of Hungarian courts rendered under the New York Convention (“Convention”) and published in the last two decades. The decisions were initially made available to the international arbitration community in the ICCA Yearbook of Commercial Arbitration series. This case law of 20 years is summarized below by identifying the main directions…

Amanda is an independent arbitrator and a Consultant at Seymours, based in London. Her practice focuses on international commercial arbitration, domestic and international commercial litigation and Privy Council appellate procedure. Her experience includes disputes arising in relation to a variety of sectors, including the recycling, construction, automotive and finance sectors. She has acted and participated in…

It is often said that flexibility is a cornerstone of international arbitration and that the tribunal (typically in consultation with the parties) is the master of how the proceedings are to be conducted. Yet, it remains unsettled whether certain specific rules of procedure or evidence must be complied with in arbitration – sometimes, at the…

If the number of signatories at the launch of a convention is any measure of success, then the Singapore Convention on Mediation (Singapore Convention) had close to five times the signatories as the New York Convention (NYC) which had 10 signatories (by the time the NYC came into force there were 24 signatories). The NYC…

This post analyzes the problem stemming from the different form requirements established by the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“NYC”) and the 1980 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (“CISG”) with respect to the formation of the agreements the two Conventions regulate….

Introduction The lex arbitri of Switzerland is well-known for affording parties maximum autonomy and procedural flexibility. In line with these principles, parties to international arbitration proceedings have the possibility to opt out of the otherwise applicable Chapter 12 of the Swiss Private International Law Act (“PILA”) and to opt into the statutory rules governing Swiss-seated…

The assignment of contractual rights is a common business practice. An important question concerning the assignment of rights under a contract is the fate of the arbitration agreement related to those rights and whether it is transferred automatically to the assignee so that such arbitration agreement becomes effective and binding in the relationship between the…

Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Mr. Rezvanian! We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Tehran Regional Arbitration Centre (“TRAC”) and your experience with international arbitration in the region.   To start, can you briefly introduce yourself and explain your role at TRAC? My educational background is quite diverse. I have…

States can regulate as part of their sovereignty and can give away a part of their regulatory freedom by making commitments to foreign investors, such as the obligation to compensate investors for expropriation. Unless a treaty removes or modifies a particular norm of international law, international law on expropriation, including customary law, should apply. The…