Europe

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Europe, Other Issues, Public Policy

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

On May 6, 2009, the French Supreme Court rendered a decision relating to the consequences of insolvency proceedings commenced in France against a party to pending international arbitration proceedings (Jean X. v. International Company For Commercial Exchanges (Income), May 6, 2009, Case no. 08-10281). A French company had signed three contracts for the sale of…

Arbitration Proceedings, Europe, Legal Practice

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

Summary In a decision of 6 October 2009 (4A.596/2008), the Swiss Federal Tribunal granted revision of a final international arbitral award that was influenced by fraud. This is the first time since the entry into force of the Federal Statute on the Federal Tribunal in 2007, and only the second time since the entry into…

Arbitration Proceedings, Europe, Legal Practice

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

In a decision of 23 June 2009 (4A_62/2009), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court held that the right to be heard is not violated where an arbitral tribunal bases its decision on a written submission of a third party and the parties to the proceedings had enough time to comment on such written submission.By letter of…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Europe, New York Convention

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The 9.10.2009 session of the New York Convention subcommittee of the IBA in Madrid saw a lively discussion on the topic of enforcement of annulled arbitral awards. The discussion related to the “Yukos Capital” decision issued by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals in April 2009. The Amsterdam Court of First Instance had previously upheld the…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Europe, Legal Practice, National Arbitration Laws

(White & Case LLP)/ /1 Comment
White & Case

There is a lingering perception amongst the international arbitration community that English courts tend to be more interventionist in relation to arbitration proceedings and awards compared to some of their continental counterparts. In reality, English courts are much less interventionist than some imagine, despite provisions such as section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 which…

Domestic Courts, Europe, Legal Practice

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

In this case, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court decided that the right to be heard (art. 182 para. 3 of the Swiss Federal Act on International Private Law, “PILA”) does not encompass a right of the parties to be specifically heard with regard to the legal qualification of the facts they had introduced into the…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Domestic Courts, Europe, National Arbitration Laws

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

Introduction If a party during arbitral proceedings withdraws its claim and the other party does not exercise its right to request an award in respect of the withdrawn claim, it has been suggested in Swedish legal doctrine that the parties, under certain circumstances, may have implicitly agreed that the arbitration agreement shall cease to be…

Domestic Courts, Europe, Legal Practice, Public Policy

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /1 Comment

In the same arbitration proceedings, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had to decide twice -albeit based on different grounds – whether facts discovered after the issue of an award (so called “nova”) may entail the amendment of the rendered award. In these decisions the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had the opportunity to restate its rigorous…

Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Europe, National Arbitration Laws, Res Judicata

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /Leave a comment

I have been reading with interest the ILA’s Final Report and Recommendation on Res Judicata and Arbitration adopted at the 2006 Toronto conference. Recommendation 2 provides that: The conclusive and preclusive effects of arbitral awards in further arbitral proceedings set forth below need not necessarily be governed by national law and may be governed by…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Europe, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

In a decision rendered on April 15, 2009, a three-member tribunal composed of Brigitte Stern as chairperson, Andreas Bucher and Juan Fernandez-Armesto rejected Phoenix Action Ltd’s (“Phoenix”) claims against the Czech Republic. By way of background, Phoenix is an Israeli company which purchased two Czech companies, Benet Praha (“BP”) and Benet Group (“BG”), in 2002…

Arbitration Agreements, Europe, Investment Arbitration

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)/ /Leave a comment
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Conference: Fifty Years of Bilateral Investment Treaties December 1-3, 2009, Frankfurt Fifty years ago, Germany and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan concluded the first ever bilateral investment treaty. To mark (and celebrate) this important milestone in the development of investment protection, the German Society for the Promotion of Foreign Investments (GFA) and the German Federal…

Africa, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitrators, Europe, International Legal Theory and Teaching, Legal Practice

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /Leave a comment

In submitting his instructions to the American delegation attending the 1907 Second Hague Conference, Secretary of State Elihu Root argued that the Permanent Court of Arbitration system needed radical improvement. In his instructions he wrote: There can be no doubt that the principal objection to arbitration rests, not upon the unwillingness of nations to submit…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Disclosure, Europe, North America

(Castaldi Mourre & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

The already much debated Paris Court of appeal judgment in Tecnimont, rendered on 12 February 2009, has put into light the dangers arising from the lack of uniformity in the field of conflict disclosure. The Paris Court of appeal has quashed a partial award because the chairman of the arbitral tribunal, a well-known international arbitrator…

Arbitration Agreements, Commercial Arbitration, Europe

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

Under Swiss arbitration law, the validity of an arbitration agreement is in general subject to formal and substantive requirements (Article 178 of the PILA). With regard to the formal validity, Article 178(1) of the PILA requires the arbitration agreement to be in writing and allows the parties to use any means of communication which permits…

Europe, European Law, Investment Arbitration, Legislation

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

Germany has introduced an amendment to its Foreign Trade and Payments Act. It is a direct response to increased activities and acquisitions by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), as they are often perceived to pursue economic as well as political aims. Despite this origin, the legislation does not only apply to SWFs. Instead, it allows the…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Europe, Joinder, Jurisdiction, Public Policy, Res Judicata

(Castaldi Mourre & Partners)/ /1 Comment

The Paris Court of appeal, on 25 September 2008, and the Swiss Federal Tribunal, on 5 December 2008 have rendered two interesting decisions. These two decisions address issues of primary importance, such as the “extension” of the arbitration agreement, joinders, and the scope of review by courts of award having declined the tribunal’s jurisdiction. These…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Europe, Investment Arbitration

(Loyola Law School Los Angeles)/ /Leave a comment
American Society of International Law (ASIL)

ICSID arbitration proceedings against Germany (Vattenfall AB, Vattenfall Europe AG, Vattenfall Europe Generation AG & Co. KG v. Federal Republic of Germany – ICSID On April 17, 2009, the government-owned Swedish energy company Vattenfall initiated Case No. ARB/09/6, reported in IA Reporter, April 2nd, 2009 (Vol. 2, No. 6)). The dispute concerns the construction by…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Europe, European Law, Legislation, Lis Pendens, Seat of the arbitration

(Castaldi Mourre & Partners)/ /1 Comment

The relationship between Arbitration and European Judicial Private Law has not always been easy. The bedrock European Law principle in this field, as embedded in the European Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 of December 22, 2000 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (“the Judgment Regulation”), is the…

Arbitrators, Europe

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /Leave a comment

Kluwer Arbitration Blog is pleased to introduce Alexis Mourre as a guest blogger for the next month. Alexis specialises in international arbitration and international litigation with the law firm of Castalde Mourre & Partners in Paris. He has served as counsel to party, co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator or expert in more than 80 international arbitral procedures,…

Arbitration Agreements, Europe, Legal Practice

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /1 Comment

In a decision dated 5 December 2008 (4A_376/2008), the Swiss Federal Court (“SFC”) had the opportunity to address two legal topics in the context of international arbitration: The first topic was the interpretation of a pathological arbitration clause. B___ Ltd. (“Claimant-Company”) had initiated arbitration proceedings in Lugano under the ICC rules against A.___ (“Respondent”) on…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Europe, National Arbitration Laws, North America

(White & Case LLP)/ /1 Comment
White & Case

In two recently reported cases, parties to arbitrations have challenged arbitrator and/or institutional fees where the underlying awards have also been subject to annulment or set aside proceedings. Are these cases isolated instances or do they signal an increased trend? The answer may have widespread ramifications for how, and where, arbitrations are conducted and administered….

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Europe, Jurisdiction

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision of 22 January 2009 (4A_424/2008), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court had to consider an appeal against a decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In the run-up to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a qualifying competition was held for the women’s Olympic hockey tournament. The Spanish team won…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Europe

(Baker & McKenzie)/ /Leave a comment
YIAG

A recent decision of the English High Court (F Ltd v M Ltd [2009] EWHC 275 (TCC)) confirms that the Court may intervene and allow successful challenge of an arbitral award in order to protect parties against the unfair conduct of an arbitration. However, the case also demonstrates that the applicable test (i.e. a serious…