Jurisdiction

Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration institution, China, judicial review, kompetenz-kompetenz, Validity

(Hui Zhong Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

On 30 July 2021, the PRC Ministry of Justice issued the Amendment to the Arbitration Law (Consultation Draft) (the “Draft Amendment”), which is the first substantial amendment of the existing PRC Arbitration Law (the “Arbitration Law”) in more than two decades. (See previous posts on the PRC Arbitration Law here and here.) Of the changes…

Annulment, Arab World, Constitutional Court, Egypt, MENA

(Amereller)/ /1 Comment

On 6 January 2021, the Egyptian Government introduced a draft law for parliament’s approval, seeking to expand the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court’s (“ESCC”) jurisdiction to scrutinize international arbitration awards rendered against the Egyptian State and acts of international organizations affecting the Egyptian State. The legislative amendment is in line with previous legislative measures designed to…

Arbitration institution, Enforcement, Hungary

(LFB – László Fekete Bagaméry, Attorneys at Law)/ /Leave a comment

Would you agree to arbitrate in a forum where the opposing party has the last word about the tribunal’s composition? This is what the new Hungarian Concession Arbitration Court, scheduled to start operation in October 2021, proposes.   The Name of the Game The Hungarian government loves playing with arbitration. In 2012, they prohibited arbitration…

Court Proceedings, Discretion, India, Set aside an arbitral award

(Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys)/ /Leave a comment

Proceedings for setting-aside arbitral awards in India have been the subject of controversy since time immemorial. Recent trends indicate that the tendency of courts to set-aside awards has been on the wane. However, on many occasions, courts have been sympathetic to the losing party on issues of quantum, costs and interest, and have undertaken a…

Arbitration Agreement, China, Courts, Multi-tiered clauses, Pre-arbitral procedure

(Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution) and (CIETAC)/ /Leave a comment

Multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses – which typically require negotiation, mediation, and/or other form(s) of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) prior to submitting the dispute to binding arbitration – are ubiquitous, and a standard feature of complex construction contracts. Contrary to their intended function of promoting efficiency and preserving business relationships, as observed by Gary Born, they…

Ad hoc arbitration, Arbitral seat, Arbitration Act, Arbitration institution, China

, , (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP)/ /2 Comments

Efforts are underway in China to reform the Arbitration Law of the PRC (“PRC Arbitration Law”), a statute that was promulgated in 1994 (effective in 1995) and that remains substantially unchanged to this day.1)The authors wish to thank Arnold & Porter Shanghai office interns Lyuzhi Wang and Steven Peng for their assistance in the preparation…

Arbitral Award, Poland, Statistics

, , (Kubas Kos Gałkowski)/ /Leave a comment

Arbitration has been well-established in Poland already before and throughout the 1920s. It has, however, experienced a downturn between 1945 and 1989 due to the distrust of the Polish state. The winds had changed in the 1990s when arbitration started to flourish again. Since then, the Polish parliament introduced several reforms previously discussed on this…

Arbitration Award, Enforcement, Hungary, International Public Policy, New York Convention

(SMARTLEGAL Schmidt & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

Drawing a well-defined line of demarcation between domestic and international public policy when enforcing foreign arbitral awards sends a clear pro-arbitration message from national courts in any jurisdiction. Does Hungarian case law come close to this level of sophistication? This post analyses this question in the context of procedural public policy, and it does so…

Arbitration Proceedings, Diversity, South Korea

(Peter & Kim) and (McNair International )/ /Leave a comment
Peter & Kim

The current quest for greater diversity in the world of arbitration has focused heavily on the proportion of women as well as different ethnic and cultural groups on arbitral tribunals, boards and committees of arbitral institutions, and, to a lesser extent, acting as lead counsel. Most recently, there have been timely demands to recognize and…

Arbitration Act, Ecuador, International Commercial Arbitration, Latin America, regulation

(Tobar ZVS)/ /Leave a comment

Ecuador´s Arbitration and Mediation Law (“AML”) was enacted in 1997 and amended in 2015. However, the AML did not count with regulations until August 2021. Given that some provisions contained in the AML are vague, arbitrators, counsel and judges interpreted them in different ways, many of them in contradiction with the very nature of the…

Jurisdiction, Qatar, Qatar Financial Centre

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration) and (Al Tamimi & Company)/ /Leave a comment

Similar to other countries in the region, Qatar’s primary legal system is civil law based. In 2005, the Qatar Financial Centre (“QFC”), an offshore jurisdiction, was established in Qatar by virtue of Law No. 7 of 2005 as amended by Law No. 2 of 2009 (“QFC Law”). This post sheds light on the jurisdiction of…

Achmea, Arbitration Proceedings, Climate change, Energy Charter Treaty, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, ISDS, Netherlands, Paris Agreement

(Smallegange, Dutch Arbitration Association)/ /Leave a comment

Western European countries have taken divergent approaches to dealing with the consequences of shutting down power plants while transitioning towards cleaner energy sources. On one side, Germany resolved the resulting compensation disputes by making settlement payments to the owners of affected nuclear and coal power plants. In contrast, the Netherlands appears reluctant to similarly compensate…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Brazil, Case Management, Commercial Arbitration, Institutional Arbitration, Interview of our editors, Interviews with Our Editors, Latin America

(Locke Lord LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment

Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Ms. Coelho!  We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC), and its administration of complex disputes, as well as about the attractiveness of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as seats for international arbitration. …

Africa, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Stay of Proceedings, Tanzania

, , (Bowmans Tanzania)/ /1 Comment

This post is in response to the post titled “The First Year of Tanzania’s 2020 Arbitration Act” published on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog on 21 April 2021. In the above-mentioned post, Katarina Jurisic and Michael Wietzorek analysed the provisions of Tanzania’s Arbitration Act 2020 (‘the Act’) and the effect that the Act would have on…

Arbitration Agreement, Choice of Law, New York Convention, Non-signatory, United States, United States Courts

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

The United States Supreme Court’s June 2020 decision in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC (“GE Energy“) made clear that, under U.S. law, a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement may invoke equitable estoppel to compel arbitration under Article II(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of…

India, Investment Arbitration

/ /Leave a comment

In May 2021, India’s National Company Law Tribunal (‘NCLT’) ordered the liquidation of Devas Multimedia (‘Devas’), on grounds of it having been incorporated for fraudulent purposes. This is the latest turn in a long running dispute contested across multiple fora. In this post, I highlight that this could give rise to a third BIT claim…

Canada, Domestic Courts, forum non conveniens, Stay of Proceedings

, (Baker McKenzie)/ /Leave a comment

The COVID-19 pandemic has normalized virtual hearings. According to the Ontario Superior Court, this has made the doctrine of forum non conveniens obsolete. In Kore Meals LLC v Freshii Development LLC, 2021 ONSC 2896, in the context of an application to stay Canadian court proceedings in favour of arbitration in the U.S., the Ontario Superior Court…

Enforcement, India, Sovereign Immunity

, (Trilegal)/ /Leave a comment

There has been much debate about immunity this last year. While, most were discussing concepts of “herd immunity” against the novel coronavirus, the Delhi High Court (Court) ventured into and addressed aspects of “sovereign immunity”. In a batch of petitions (KLA Const Technologies v. The Embassy of the Afghanistan and Matrix Global v. Ministry of…

Arbitration Agreements, Construction arbitration, Dubai, MENA

, (MRP Advisory)/ /Leave a comment

The Dubai Court of Cassation, in its recent judgement, DCC 1308 of 2020, explored the effect of incorporation of arbitration clauses by reference. Typically, “incorporation by reference” refers to parties agreeing to incorporate arbitral clauses found in separate standard-form agreements (“SFAs”) into the agreement between the parties by making reference to the same. Such reference…

Investment Arbitration, ISDS, Japan, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Treaty

, (Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu Singapore LLP)/ /1 Comment

On 2 June 2021, the British government announced that the existing 11 signatories (the “Parties”) to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (“CPTPP”) have agreed to the United Kingdom’s bid to begin the accession process.1)The signatories consist of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. International Trade…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration clause, India

(Khaitan & Co)/ /Leave a comment

This blog has previously discussed the illegality of unilateral appointments of sole arbitrators in India. However, a good beginning is only half the battle won.  Before one dwells further, it is important to gauge the Indian position on unilateral appointments.  First, as stated in TRF Ltd. v. Energo Engineering (“TRF”), if the nominated arbitrator is…

Class arbitration, Institutional Rules, KCAB, Korea, Legislation

, (Barun Law LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a class action lawsuit, a plaintiff or group of plaintiffs bring claims on behalf of similarly situated individuals. The legislatures in some civil law countries including Korea, have recently proposed or implemented measures allowing or expanding the use of class actions in their court systems. Considering that Korea currently does not have in place…

Colombia, Denial of Benefits, Italy, Model BIT

, / /Leave a comment

First appearing in the 1970s, denial of benefits (DoB) clauses have proliferated, became more sophisticated, and evolved significantly and even beyond recognition as in the 2017 Colombian Model BIT. This post discusses such evolution and provides a taxonomy of the different versions of the clause.   Denial of Benefits Clauses in Outline Traditionally, DoB clauses…

Canada, Domestic Courts, Evidence, UNCITRAL Model Law, Yukos

(Woods LLP)/ /1 Comment

Much ink has been spilled on the 2014 Yukos arbitral awards, and rightfully so. They are notorious for collectively breaking the previous record for the largest arbitral award in history. Their magnitude (these were, in the tribunal’s words, “mammoth arbitrations”) also commands our attention, as do the issues at stake and the multiple companion arbitrations…