On November 16, 2021, during New York Arbitration Week 2021, several committees of the New York City Bar Association hosted a panel discussion entitled “Dispelling Myths: Enforcement of Latin American Arbitration Awards in the United States and U.S. Arbitration Awards in Latin America,” which focused on enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in the United States,…
In a recent judgment of the General Court (the “GC”) in joined cases – T-639/14 RENV, T-352/15 and T-740/17, the question of the clash between EU law (in this case, state aid legislation) and arbitration was discussed. Not surprisingly, from an EU law standpoint, the EU Courts once again found that in case of such…
In June 2020, the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) launched its much-awaited Arbitration Toolbox, an online and interactive tool that guides a user through the various stages of an arbitration. Initially the brainchild of former ASA President, Elliott Geisinger, the Toolbox was brought to fruition under the presidency of the current ASA President Felix Dasser. The…
The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), agreed in principle in December 2020, was announced with great fanfare. Forged after seven years of negotiations between the world’s current largest trading block (the EU) and the country expected to have the world’s largest economy by the end of this decade (China), the CAI was set to…
This post shares a development of potential significance, i.e., the drafting of the Sustainable Investment Facilitation & Cooperation Agreement (SIFCA), a next-generation model bilateral investment treaty (BIT) developed for The Gambia, a sovereign State in West Africa and one of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs). This post continues the discussion raised in January 2021,…
It is no secret that Indian courts have previously faced criticism over their excessive interference in arbitral awards. However, there has been a course-correction in recent years, through legislation and judicial decisions. With the 2015 amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”), it is clear that judicial scrutiny of arbitral awards should be…
British Columbia (“BC”) was the first Canadian jurisdiction to introduce modern arbitration legislation based on international standards in the UNCITRAL Model Law in 1986. Despite being an early leader in arbitration in Canada, BC did not update its domestic legislation for over two decades, which caused some increasing discrepancies between BC’s arbitration legislation, the UNCITRAL…
Arbitration agreements often provide that certain procedural steps must be undertaken before arbitration is commenced, such as mediation or negotiation. This provides a ‘cooling-off period’ in which the parties can seek to resolve their dispute amicably before resorting to formal proceedings. When a party fails to satisfy a pre-arbitration procedural step and launches prematurely into…
In CLMS Mgmt. Servs. et al. v. Amwins Brokerage et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit considered whether a state law (by operation of the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, which gives states the authority to regulate the business of insurance) voiding arbitration agreements in insurance contracts reverse-preempted Article II, Section 3 of…
For years, Australia and the U.K. have been the pioneering jurisdictions regarding ownership of law firms. Now, there’s a new kid on the block. Recent developments in a few U.S. states, predominantly Arizona, and a new approach by the American Bar Association (ABA) signal a broad reexamination of the long-entrenched prohibition on non-lawyer participation (ownership…
The United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) has taken strides in increasingly accepting arbitration as the parties’ chosen dispute resolution mechanism. It is now well established that UAE courts would respect the parties’ agreement on arbitration and uphold valid arbitration clauses. In fact, Article 8(1) of the Federal Law on Arbitration, No. 6 (2018) (“UAE Arbitration Law”)…
On 27 October 2021, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the Court) issued a judgment in Kabab-Ji SAL v Kout Food Group [2021] UKSC 48. The Court upheld the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal finding that the law applicable to the arbitration agreement was the English choice of law for the whole…
Dubai’s Decree 34 of 2021 (“Decree”) and its appended statute on DIAC (“Statute”) were promulgated on 14 September 2021. The Decree consolidates the local arbitration centres under a new-and-improved DIAC (“DIAC 2.0”), and notably abolishes the DIFC Arbitration Institute (“DIFC-LCIA”), marking the beginning of a new era for arbitration in Dubai. From the outset, DIAC…
This post, which follows up on a recent submission in respect of the impact of asset freezes on arbitral and financial institutions, addresses some of the issues that may be faced by such institutions as a result of restrictions that form part of the United States’ secondary sanctions against Iran. A third and final post…
Established in 1995 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Paris Centre for Mediation and Arbitration (“CMAP”) is a prominent Parisian institution specializing in both arbitration and mediation, which adopts a resolutely business-focused approach to dispute resolution. If the CMAP mostly deals with internal matters, approximately one third of the disputes submitted to…
This post examines the distinctive features and positive aspects of the maritime arbitration infrastructure of Singapore and South Korea while also exploring areas in which there is room for improvement in order to make these regional centers attractive to a wider international audience.1)Inni In Young Choi of Shin & Kim also contributed to this post. …
In August 2021, the Indian Supreme Court (‘Court’) in Amazon v. Future found an emergency award rendered in an arbitration seated in India (New Delhi) to be enforceable as if it were an interim order of an arbitral tribunal under Section 17(1) of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (“Act”). The Court also found that such…
John Steinbeck’s classic novella, “Of Mice and Men,” took a modern day form in the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week – appropriately enough, for purposes of this blog, in an arbitration matter. As others have commented on social media, during oral argument in Badgerow v. Walters, Case No. 20-1143 (U.S. S. Ct.), the Supreme…
It is trite that an award may be set aside if there has been a breach of the rules of natural justice. This may arise from, among others, a tribunal’s procedural ruling. However, during the arbitration, there is no recourse for parties to challenge such procedural rulings. This was the situation in CBS v CBP…
Hidden behind the glamour and grandeur of major sporting events such as the Olympics is the way the sport comes to terms with various aspects of the law. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), or the Tribunal Arbitral Du Sport (TAS), based in Lausanne, is at the apex of a now complex pyramid of…
On 30 June and 1 July 2021, the Tenth Investment Arbitration Forum took place in form of a webinar jointly organized by Dr. Herfried Wöss of Wöss & Partners and Prof. Dr. Guillermo Estrada Adán of the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM. The topic of this year’s forum was “The Second Mexican Energy Reform” or energy…
On 30 June and 1 July 2021, the Tenth Investment Arbitration Forum took place in form of a webinar jointly organized by Dr. Herfried Wöss of Wöss & Partners and Prof. Dr. Guillermo Estrada Adán of the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM. The topic of this year’s forum was “The Second Mexican Energy Reform” and the…
A common issue in commercial contracts across a range of industries is whether a claimant’s failure to comply with the provisions of a dispute resolution clause gives rise to an issue of admissibility or jurisdiction. There have been a range of recent decisions from across the globe ruling on this very question, with all of…
On May 7, 2021 the arbitral tribunal in the arbitration between América Móvil S.A.B de C.V and the Republic of Colombia (the “Tribunal”) under the Colombia-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (the “FTA”) (ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/16/5) issued the award. América Móvil initiated the arbitration on its own name and in representation of its subsidiary in Colombia,…
