Jurisdiction

Arbitration Agreement, Jurisdiction, Pakistan

(Fazleghani Advocates)/ /Leave a comment

In Pakistan, the law governing international arbitrations resulting in a foreign award is the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011 (“2011 Act”). To those who are unfamiliar with the 2011 Act, it may come as a surprise that it does not provide any remedy to an applicant challenging the arbitration…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, Investment Treaties, MENA, Middle East, Multilateral Investment Treaties, United Arab Emirates

(Allen & Overy LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The announcement on 13 August 2020 of a rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) took the world by surprise. Seasoned regional observers noted quiet cooperation and cross-border transactions over the past few years, but few expected these covert relationships to burst into public view so fully and wholeheartedly. The joint declaration, soon…

COVID-19, Due process, Enforcement, Hearings, India, Virtual hearings, Witness

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Young ICCA

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual witness testimonies were prevalent in specific instances, such as when witnesses could not reach the venue because of illness. Article 8.1 of IBA Rules on Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration permits virtual testimony only at the discretion of the tribunal. The Commentary on the Rules establishes that the tribunal’s…

Arbitration, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Diversity, Efficiency, Environment, Technology, Virtual hearings

(Association ARBITRI) and (Sudžuka & Co. d.o.o.)/ /Leave a comment

The Sixth Sarajevo Arbitration Day conference took place on 23 October 2020 and it was dedicated to the opportunities to adopt positive arbitration practices amidst the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. This annual conference organized by the Association ARBITRI took place online for the first time and gathered legal practitioners from all over the…

Arbitral Award, Arbitration Award, Dissenting opinions, Germany

, (Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Young ICCA

A one paragraph obiter dictum in an annulment decision rendered by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (the “Court”) on 16 January 2020 (26 Sch 14/18) reignited an old debate: are dissenting opinions in German arbitration proceedings permissible? From an international perspective, dissenting opinions in arbitral awards are by no means unusual.  That is why it…

Arbitrability, Consumer disputes, France

(Terrien Avocat)/ /Leave a comment

On 30 September 2020, the French Supreme Court rendered a decision, that, on its face, appears to overturn its fabled 1997 Jaguar (95-11.427, 95-11.428 and 95-11.429) and 2004 Rado (02-12.259) decisions, which held that the principle of competence-competence applied even in the case of consumer disputes.  In PwC, to the contrary, the Supreme Court refuses…

Australia, COVID-19, Force majeure, Korea, UK

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

As countries continue to grapple with the ongoing effects of COVID-19, the effects of the ongoing waves on parties vary widely. There have been recent discussions on force majeure and international arbitration on the Blog: see here, here, and here. This article will address the following points in relation to four key jurisdictions, being the…

Consumer disputes, Employment arbitration, SCOTUS, Section 1782 Discovery, United States, United States Courts

(Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP), , and (Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC; The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), known only as “RBG” in many circles, was a native of Brooklyn, New York and only the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Her passing in September 2020, at the age of 87, left a gaping hole in the international community. She was widely…

Investment Arbitration, Investment Disputes, Investment law, United States

(Allen & Overy)/ /2 Comments

With the results of the U.S. presidential election announced last week, international lawyers are now looking closely at how the incoming Biden Administration will handle the many challenges facing the global legal order.  President-elect Biden has promised to turn away from the unilateralism that marked the Trump presidency and instead focus on multilateral reengagement.1)See, e.g.,…

Adjournment, Arbitration Award, Enforcement, Netherlands, New York Convention

(De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. )/ /Leave a comment

The issue of adjournment of enforcement proceedings relating to foreign arbitral awards that are subject to setting aside proceedings has featured prominently before national courts in recent years and has been the subject of other contributions on this blog (see here and here). This topic is especially significant in the Netherlands, an important jurisdiction for…

Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy and arbitration, COVID-19, Insolvency, Latin America

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

One of the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world-wide economic crisis has been the sharp increase of insolvency filings before national courts. Latin America is no stranger to this situation, having been part of the surge in business insolvencies. Brazil, in particular, has been a recent insolvency hotspot within Latin America. This…

European Union, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, ISDS, ISDS Reform, Multilateral Investment Court

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP) and , (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been written – on this page and elsewhere – about the future viability of investor-state arbitration based on intra-EU BITs in the aftermath of the CJEU’s Achmea decision. In the authors’ view, the May 2020 Termination Agreement concluded between 23 of the 27 EU Member States with the intention to terminate existing intra-EU…

National Courts, New York Convention, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Pakistan

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The obligation of contracting states to recognize arbitration agreements and refer the parties to arbitration is provided in Article II of the New York Convention 1958 (the ‘Convention’). This post will endeavor to evaluate the meaning of the phrase ‘refer the parties to arbitration’ used in Article II(3) of the Convention and whether this phrase…

Australia, Australian Arbitration Week, Diversity

and , (Corrs Chambers Westgarth)/ /Leave a comment

On 15 October 2020, Corrs Chambers Westgarth hosted a panel on ‘Diversity in Arbitral Proceedings – Opportunities and Challenges in the Wake of Remote Work and Virtual Hearings’ as part of Australian Arbitration Week. The panel was moderated by Rachael King and Nastasja Suhadolnik of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, with Kate Hay (Corrs Chambers Westgarth), Lucy…

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Malaysia

, (Asian International Arbitration Centre)/ /Leave a comment
Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)

As two young female practitioners with barely any experience in sports, both, on and off-the field, the idea of getting involved in the practice of sports law and arbitration was certainly not par for the course. Yet, it was everything about sports law and arbitration – ranging from the concept of strict liability in doping,…

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Malaysia, Sport arbitration

, (Asian International Arbitration Centre)/ /Leave a comment

Ask any person on the street, and one would often find that sports has, in one way or another, played a role in or had an impact on their life. Commercially, the global sports industry has been one of the fastest growing industries. Like other growing industries where disputes are expected, the legal framework surrounding…

Consent, Investment Arbitration, Latin America, Treaty drafting, Treaty Interpretation

(Esguerra Asesores Jurídicos)/ /Leave a comment

A recent partial award on jurisdiction in Michael Lee-Chin v. the Dominican Republic debated the interpretation of dispute resolution clauses and State consent to investment arbitration. While interpreting the Free Trade Agreement between the Caribbean Community and the Dominican Republic (“CARICOM-DR FTA”), the majority concluded that Respondent gave advance consent to submit disputes to one…

Arbitrability, kompetenz-kompetenz, United States, United States Courts

(Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit” or the “Court”) addressed what it referred to as a “mind-bending” and “seemingly circular” question “dubbed ‘the queen of all threshold issues’ in arbitration law:” whether a court or arbitrator(s) decides if an agreement exists when the alleged agreement itself “includes an…

Antitrust arbitration, Arbitration Agreement, Competition Law, Germany

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) and (University of Aberdeen)/ /Leave a comment

During the last decade, antitrust arbitration has experienced some turbulent times. While many national courts decided against the arbitrability of competition disputes, a handful of them allowed for such proceedings to take place before an arbitral tribunal. Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice has relied on arbitration to resolve an antitrust dispute in the United…

Austria, COVID-19, Due process, Hearings

(ArbBoutique & Queen Mary University of London) and , , (WilmerHale)/ /4 Comments

On 23 July 2020, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) rendered a decision examining whether conducting an arbitration hearing by videoconference over the objection of a party may violate due process (Case No. 18 ONc 3/20s). To the authors’ knowledge, this decision, rendered in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the first national supreme court’s…

China, Economic, HK Arbitration Week, Hong Kong, Trade

(Allen & Overy)/ /Leave a comment
HK45

Day three of Hong Kong Arbitration Week 2020 featured, as part of the ADR in Asia Conference, a panel session on US-China relations and the challenges and opportunities that arise out of that relationship.  The session was chaired and moderated by Mr Peter Yuen of Fangda Partners.  Mr Yuen was joined by a diverse group…

HK Arbitration Week, Hong Kong, Interviews with Our Editors

and (Simmons & Simmons)/ /Leave a comment

Chiann Bao has been with Arbitration Chambers since 2018. She is currently Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. She previously acted as Secretary General of the HKIAC between 2010 and 2016, during which HKIAC was recognized in a 2015 International Arbitration Survey as the most preferred arbitral institution outside of Europe and…

Amendment to International Arbitration Act, Arbitration, Confidentiality, Institutional Arbitration, Multiple parties, Singapore

(City University of Hong Kong) and (BPP Law School)/ /1 Comment

Singapore has emerged as one of the leading international arbitration centers not only in Asia but also in the world. To keep this title, the Singapore Ministry of Law (“Ministry of Law”) played a major role by keeping track on international and commercial legislative developments, and, adapting and framing innovative legislations to promote international arbitration….

Enforcement, India, Limitation period, Supreme Court

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The issue of limitation period applicable to the enforcement of a foreign award in India has been a vexed question for a long time because of various conflicting and diametrically opposite decisions rendered by different High Courts in India. The issue has finally been settled recently by the Supreme Court of India on 16 September…