Jurisdiction

Ad hoc arbitration, India, Institutional Arbitration, Institutional Rules, Interviews with Our Editors, Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA)

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In this installment of Kluwer Arbitration Blog’s “Interview with our Editors”, we highlight India’s position in the field, by speaking with Madhukeshwar Desai and Neeti Sachdeva of Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA). Madhukeshwar, its CEO, and Neeti, its Registrar & Secretary-General, jointly present MCIA’s journey since its establishment in 2016. They also discuss how…

Climate change, Energy Charter Treaty, Germany, Investment Arbitration, Legitimate Expectations, Parallel Proceedings

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Swedish state-owned power energy company Vattenfall operated two nuclear power plants located in Brunsbüttel and Krümmel, Germany. Vattenfall owns a 50% interest in the Krümmel plant, and a 66.6% interest in the Brunsbüttel plant. In August 2011, against the backdrop of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, the German Parliament amended the Act on the…

Annulment, Constitutional Court, Ecuador, Latin America, Revision of Award

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I .The Annulment of an Arbitral Award under Ecuadorian Law Pursuant to article 30 of the Arbitration and Mediation Law (AML), arbitral awards are final and binding for the parties. In other words, parties cannot file recourses to challenge an award, with the exception of a clarification or extension petition before the arbitral tribunal. However,…

Confidentiality, Consolidation, DIFC, Emergency Arbitrator, Expedited Proceedings, LCIA Rules, United Arab Emirates

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At the dawn of the New Year, following their adoption in November 2020, the revised DIFC-LCIA Rules of Arbitration (the “2021 DIFC-LCIA Rules”) have now entered into force with effect from 1st January 2021. Readers of this blog will recognise the DIFC-LCIA as the free zone sister organization of the London Court of Arbitration (LCIA)…

Anti-suit injunction, Brexit, Brussels Regulation, CJEU, European Union

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While the United Kingdom (“UK”) was a member of the European Union (“EU”), the power of the English courts to grant anti-suit injunctions was considerably constrained by EU law. Now that the UK has left the EU, it is worth asking the question: are anti-suit injunctions back on the menu? This blog post provides a…

Antitrust arbitration, Arbitrability, Competition Law, India

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Despite traditionally being considered unsuitable for arbitration, recent practice evidence that the concrete lines separating antitrust disputes and arbitration have blurred. Ever since the US Supreme Court approved arbitrability of antitrust disputes in Mitsubishi Motors v Soler (“Mitsubishi Motors”) (discussed here and here), similar understanding has been accepted in EU (Eco Swiss v Benetton), England…

Court Proceedings, Emergency Arbitrator, Germany, Preliminary relief

(DLA Piper)/ /2 Comments

Introduction An emergency by definition is a “sudden serious and dangerous event” that requires “immediate action”. For instance, shareholder A needs to prevent shareholder B from publicizing confidential information that will negatively affect the share price. Shareholder A finds herself in an emergency situation and needs to act immediately. According to a recent decision of…

AfCFTA, AfCFTA Investment Protocol, Africa, Intra-African BITs, Investment law

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As Phase II negotiations of the African Continental Free Trade Area (“AfCFTA”) have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a draft legal text of the AfCFTA Investment Protocol (“Protocol”) has not been submitted to the January 2021 Session of the Assembly, as originally expected.  There are reasons to believe that with the recent start…

2020 In Review, Arbitration Agreement, Consent, Equal Treatment, Good Faith, Interim Award, Interpretation of Contracts, Partial award, Res Judicata, Right to be heard, Switzerland

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This report highlights the most significant arbitration related decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (the “SFSC”) issued in 2020.   Tribunal’s Jurisdiction – Scope of Arbitration Agreement In 2020, the SFSC issued several decisions on the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal and on the determination of the objective (ratione materiae) and subjective (ratione personae)…

Bankruptcy, Brazil, COVID-19, Insolvency, International Commercial Arbitration, Latin America

(Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On 24 December 2020, the New Brazilian Insolvency Act (“NBIA” – a slight misnomer, as the Act is in fact an amendment to an existing statute) was published in the official Brazilian gazette. The act implements important modifications in the field, including a few related to arbitration, which came into force on 23 January 2021….

Arbitration, Fee Agreeements, Hong Kong, outcome related fee structures, Third party funding

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Hong Kong currently prohibits lawyers from using outcome related fee structures (“ORFSs”), including “No-Win, No-Fee” type arrangements, for arbitrations and other contentious matters. This looks set to change for arbitrations, however, following the publication late last year of a compelling Consultation Paper by the Outcome Related Fee Structures for Arbitration Sub-committee of the Law Reform…

2020 In Review, Arbitrator's mandate, Corruption, Disclosure, Economic Sanctions, Enforcement, France, Immunity, Independence and Impartiality, kompetenz-kompetenz

(Africa Global Logistics) and (Talma Dispute Resolution)/ /Leave a comment

The pandemic did not prevent French courts from bringing their share of arbitration-related developments, although they remained almost inactive from March to June. This post succinctly reviews some of 2020’s noteworthy developments.   Important Decisions of the Paris Court of Appeal’s International Section Operational since March 2018, the International Chamber of the Paris court of…

Arbitration, Consent awards, Corruption, Enforceability, France, International Public Policy, Libya, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

(Signature Litigation Paris) and (Signature Litigation LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The dispute involving the State of Libya and French company SORELEC was heard by the Paris Court of Appeal in the context of a much lower tolerance for bribery and corruption in domestic and international affairs than ever before. France has indeed significantly strengthened its anti-corruption framework since adopting the so-called “Sapin II” law in…

2020 In Review, Arbitrability, Arbitration institution, Armenia, China, COVID-19, Document Production, Enforcement, Free Trade Zones, Georgia, HK Arbitration Week, Hong Kong, Interim measures, Japan, Macau, South Korea, Virtual hearings

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In spite of unfamiliar challenges that emerged in 2020, arbitration progress in East and Central Asia has persisted. In this post, our East and Central Asian editorial team recapitulates major arbitration trends and developments of the region featured in the past year from the perspectives of national and interstate policies, judicial and legislative changes, as…

Australia, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Investment Arbitration, Renewable energy

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /1 Comment
ACICA 45

The Renewable Energy Target (RET), Australia’s key policy instrument for encouraging electricity generation from renewable sources, has been described as a policy hampered by politicisation. Notwithstanding such criticism, in 2019, it was reported that Australia’s energy system is undergoing the transition to renewables faster than any other country in the world.1)Blakers et al., (2019) “Pathway…

Africa, Diversity, ICC, Interviews with Our Editors, ISDS Reform, Working Group III

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Ndanga Kamau is a Vice President of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration and the President of the ICC Africa Commission. She is an international lawyer who specialises in international dispute settlement and international law. She sits as arbitrator and represents clients in international disputes. She also provides consultancy work and…

Arbitration, Counsel, Guaidó, Venezuela

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Nicolas Maduro was “reelected” President of Venezuela for the constitutional period from 2019 to 2025. This presidential election was the subject of serious questions by large representative sectors of Venezuelan society, as well as by the United States, the European Union, and most Western Hemisphere countries. Given this situation, Juan Guaidó, as head of the…

2020 In Review, Annulment, Appeal, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Bankruptcy and arbitration, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Commercial Arbitration, Confidentiality, Corruption, COVID-19, Duty to Disclose, Emergency Measure, Enforcement, Judicial intervention, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Transparency, Venezuela

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment

Corruption, annulment of arbitral awards and court intervention mark the main developments for 2020 in Latin America.  Our contributors this year reported on the most important judicial decisions and legislative measures impacting the legal framework of various jurisdictions in the region. A new ‘hot topic’ arising from the COVID-19 pandemic is the interplay between arbitration…

COVID-19, Swiss Civil Procedure Code, Swiss Private International Law Act, Switzerland, Virtual hearings

(CMS von Erlach Poncet Ltd.) and (Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt )/ /Leave a comment

On 6 July 2020 the Swiss Federal Tribunal has issued a decision in which it has held that the COVID-19 pandemic does not serve as a sufficient justification to impose virtual hearings in state court proceedings against a party’s will. With a view to field of arbitration, the question thus arises whether the respective reasoning…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Commercial Arbitration, COVID-19, Interview of our editors, Interviews with Our Editors, Latin America, Mexico

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

Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Ms. Sámano!  We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Arbitration Center of Mexico – CAM; the type of disputes it handles and the way it is addressing recent developments, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the adoption of new policies from the Andrés Manuel López…

Environment, Morocco, Virtual hearings, Webinar

(Concepción Global, PLLC, Universidad Complutense de Madrid), (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), (Afrique Advisors Correspondent of Mayer Brown), and (University Cadi Ayyad)/ /Leave a comment

The Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (“CIMAC”) convened its sixth edition of the Casablanca Arbitration Day (“CAD”) on December 3, 2020. The virtual CAD presented four panels focusing on one burning issue: “Is Arbitration Helping or Hindering the Protection of the Environment and Public Health?” This question deepens the discussion focused on during the…

Arbitration, Brexit, EU-UK dispute settlement, European Union, Investment Arbitration, State-State Dispute Settlement, State-to-state arbitration

, (Linklaters LLP), (Linklaters LLP; Erasmus University), and (Linklaters)/ /1 Comment

The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (“TCA”), concluded on 24 December 2020 and provisionally applicable since the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, regulates the relationship of the EU and the UK after Brexit. It forms a basis for an evolving relationship between the Parties and may further change, depending on scrutiny…

Applicable Law, Arbitrability, Arbitration Agreements, Australia, China, Governing Law, Law governing the arbitration agreement, Validity

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The doctrine of separability of arbitration agreements recognises that an arbitration clause contained in a broader agreement is separate and valid despite the invalidity of the rest of the agreement. The doctrine also raises a fundamental question: what is the governing law of the separable arbitration agreement as compared to the remainder of the contract…

Annulment, Appeal, Chile, Latin America, Party autonomy

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The Chilean Supreme Court recently issued a decision that, on its face, respects party autonomy in international arbitration. But, it could do more harm than good. On September 14, 2020, the Chilean Supreme Court (the “Court”) entered a final judgement in the case CCF SUDAMERICA SPA, Rol Nº 19568-2020 (“CCF Sudamericana” or the “Decision”). The…