International arbitration

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Bolivia, Clean Hands Doctrine, General Principles of International Law, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

, (Aceris Law)/ /Leave a comment

The arbitral tribunal in Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Limited v. Bolivia has recently hinted at its intent to address an old question: What is the doctrine of “clean hands” in investment arbitration? On 31 January 2018, an arbitral tribunal composed of Professor Ricardo Ramírez Hernández, Professor John Gotanda and Professor Philippe Sands issued a Procedural Order…

Anti-suit injunction, International arbitration

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The short answer, I submit, is that it does. Nonetheless, there is no shortage of articles and commentaries purporting to explain some of the reasons why court-ordered anti-suit injunctions continue to be prohibited under Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and…

Anti-suit injunction, CJEU, International arbitration

(Coventry Law School, Coventry University)/ /1 Comment

On 6 June 2018, Justice Males at English High court in Nori Holdings Ltd v Bank Financial Corp [2018] EWHC 1343 (Comm) (Nori Holdings) provided clarifications on some of the legal issues on anti-suit injunctions. The facts revolved around an application for an anti-suit injunction to restrain the court proceedings commenced by the defendant (Bank)…

Arbitration, Costs, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Hungary, International arbitration, UNCITRAL, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Addleshaw Goddard LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Jeantet

On 17 May 2018, the Central European University and Jeantet co-organized a conference to discuss the new Hungarian Arbitration Act (the “New Act”), following the first months of its entry into force on 1 January 2018 (the “Conference”). The Conference was held in Budapest and the organizing committee was composed of Csongor Nagy (CEU, University…

Achmea, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, BIT, CJEU, European Commission, European Law, European Union, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /Leave a comment

The first half of the year has been a rollercoaster when it comes to BITs and ISDS, in particular in Europe. Several developments at various levels can be distinguished with one common denominator: for better or for worse, the European Union (EU) and EU law have become one of the key drivers in shaping international…

Conflicts of interest, IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest, Independence and Impartiality, International arbitration, Social media, Social media

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Introduction Currently, social network trends are focused on consumer markets, such as the fashion or food industry. The uninterrupted use of smart phones, computers, tablets, Ipod´s, etc. with unlimited internet connection has resulted in us being mere dependent beings on these devices. Social networks are everyday forms of social interaction, defined as a dynamic exchange…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, International arbitration, Settlement

(Illustrategy, LLC and University of South Carolina Beaufort) and , (Dispute Resolution Data, LLC)/ /Leave a comment

Arbitration as a Settlement Tool: Costly and Slow? As an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, arbitration is not without its critics, particularly when it comes to time and money spent. According to White & Case, LLP’s 2018 International Arbitration Survey: The Evolution of International Arbitration, respectively 67% and 34% of survey respondents indicated “Cost” and…

Achmea, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, BIT, Enforcement, European Law, European Union, International arbitration, Intra-EU BITs, Investment Arbitration, New York Convention

(Albright StoneBridge Group)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Enforcement, Expedited arbitration, International arbitration, Party autonomy

, (Gujarat National Law University)/ /3 Comments

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…

Arbitration, Belgium, Document Exchange, International arbitration, Technology, Uncategorized

(Hanotiau & van den Berg)/ /Leave a comment

With the focus of the arbitral community being taken over by the recent discourse surrounding an important branch of international arbitration, i.e., investor state dispute settlement, after the 6 March 2018 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-284/16, Slowakische Republik v Achmea BV, there may be a risk today,…

Africa, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, International arbitration

(Equanimity Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

What is FDI? Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is investment in the shares of an enterprise operating in a country other than the home country. Typically, such investment can either be in the form of ‘mortar and brick’ investment or mergers and acquisitions. FDI has a major impact on the economic growth of developing countries. Africa…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Belt Road Initiative, China, Europe, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

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The Belt-and-Road Initiative (“BRI“) is a grand vision about connectivity, infrastructure, trade and unimpeded foreign direct investment (“FDI“) flows. It is a path to China’s largest export market  – the European Union – which does not only propose to ‘transit’ Eurasia (and coastal East Africa), but to radically transform it. And, thus, mere construction and…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, International arbitration

(JMiles & Co.)/ /Leave a comment

It is trite that economic growth in Africa and the scale of investment into the region has thrust international arbitration to the forefront of dispute resolution on the continent. Indeed, the proliferation of African international arbitration centres (there are more than 40 currently in existence) is testament to the fact that African governments are alive…

Arbitration, Corporate Counsel's view, International arbitration

(Squire Patton Boggs)/ /1 Comment

Introduction – the usual reasons Assumptions are made about the reasons corporate counsel choose particular methods of dispute resolution in contracts. It is said that the usual factors of enforcement, confidentiality, flexibility, informality, time, cost and so on are determinative. For some corporate counsel they might be. For others, as I have written elsewhere, the…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, International arbitration, Nigeria

(Afe Babalola & Co.)/ /2 Comments

In a previous post, the issue of finality of arbitral awards in Nigeria was discussed and it was concluded that the review of awards is not in itself a vice to arbitration. In this post, I share further observations on the finality debacle with emphasis on the pro-finality judicial policy in Nigeria. Are our Criticisms…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, International arbitration, Nigeria

(Afe Babalola & Co.)/ /Leave a comment

A feature of arbitration that makes it appealing to the user is the finality of arbitral awards. Parties are encouraged, upon the advice of counsel to submit to the arbitral process because the end result is final and not subject to appeal. However, the reality as users come to find, is that an award is…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, International arbitration, Set aside an arbitral award, Set aside an international arbitral award, Turkmenistan

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The specter of communism that was once lingering over the Europe has long faded away, and the alliance, one of the biggest socialist experiments in the history of mankind, that stood to safeguard and promote its ideals has failed. In 1991 out of the remains of the Soviet Union emerged five independent Central Asian states….

Human Rights, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, ISDS

(University of Notre Dame)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The first publicly available decision issued under the international arbitration process provided for under the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (‘Bangladesh Accord’) (note that Roger Alford previously summarized the Bangladesh Accord’s dispute resolution clause here) was issued through the 4 September 2017 Decision on Admissibility Objection in Industrial Global Union and Uni…

Arbitration, Arbitrators, International arbitration, State-to-state arbitration

(Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co)/ /2 Comments

In 2012, the Permanent Court of Arbitration [“PCA”] in the  Chagos Decision entertained a challenge to an arbitrator’s impartiality in an inter-state arbitration between Mauritius and the United Kingdom (“UK”) (analyzed here) . The PCA had to decide the appropriate standard for impartiality of arbitrators, and in the process, deal with the novel question of…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, Human Rights, International arbitration, International Courts

, , , , (Working Group on International Arbitration of Business and Human Rights) and (University of Michigan Law School)/ /1 Comment

International arbitration is taking a giant step forward as part of the global movement to protect human rights. A drafting team, with expertise in international investment, arbitration, human rights, supply chains and other issues, is being assembled to prepare a set of rules. The project is the culmination of several years of work exploring the…

Arbitration, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Singapore

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

In a 172-page judgment, the Singapore High Court in Kingdom of Lesotho v Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Limited [2017] SGHC 195 (Lesotho), set aside an investor-state arbitration award rendered against Lesotho after an extensive review of international investment jurisprudence. This is the second investor-state matter that has confronted the Singapore courts following Sanum Investments Ltd…

Anti-ISDS Propaganda, India, International arbitration

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On 29th December 2016, the Government of India constituted a High-Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice B N Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India. The Committee was constituted pursuant to the Government’s commitment to speedy resolution of commercial disputes and to make India an international hub of arbitration. The terms of reference…

Argentina, Awards, BIT, foreign direct investment, ICSID, ICSID Arbitration, Insurance, International arbitration, Investor, Investor-State arbitration, Jurisdiction, Political Risk Insurance

(Fangda Partners) and (CMS Hong Kong)/ /Leave a comment

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” (Anaïs Nin) Introduction and background On 12 July 2017, CMS Hong Kong and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) hosted the fourth joint lecture in their quarterly series focusing on the…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, FOSFA, GAFTA, International arbitration, Ukraine

(AGA Partners Law Firm) and / /Leave a comment

The analysis of Ukrainian court practice enables us to share our thoughts on trends regarding the recognition and enforcement of GAFTA/FOSFA awards in Ukraine, and to provide tips that may help to enforce this type of awards in the future. Seven Trends on the Recognition and Enforcement of GAFTA/FOSFA Awards in Ukraine 1. Ukrainian courts…