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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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….
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…
A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court (Calcutta HC) recently delivered a judgement in Balasore Alloys Ltd. v. Medima LLC which revived the debate regarding whether a ‘civil court has jurisdiction to grant anti-arbitration injunctions in foreign seated arbitrations?’ This decision requires a careful examination because of its impact on 1) the arbitration-friendly reputation…
In any arbitration, the parties’ choice of seat normally determines the legal regime under which an arbitration is conducted and any award is enforced.1)At the beginning of her career, Tereza was a tribunal secretary to Dr. Jane Willems in her role as sole arbitrator in the arbitration case at hand: Brentwood Industries, Inc. v. Guangdong…
In Part I of our post, we discussed the long-standing uncertainties existing in China about what legal regime governs arbitrations administered by foreign arbitral institutions.1)At the beginning of her career, Tereza was a tribunal secretary to Dr. Jane Willems in her role as sole arbitrator in the arbitration case at hand: Brentwood Industries, Inc. v….
The economic downturn in Thailand has resulted in increased pressure on Thai debtors. Several banks have forecasted Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) to contract 8.1 percent in 2020 due to a more severe than expected COVID-19 pandemic and the containment measures implemented by governments in many countries including Thailand. Creditors who are party to an…
Offshore courts in the UAE have long been used as conduit jurisdictions, particularly by international parties seeking to enforce foreign arbitral awards. The Abu Dhabi Global Markets (“ADGM”) and Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) have signed Memoranda of Understanding (“MoU”) with onshore authorities, pursuant to which onshore Emirati courts agree to recognise and enforce ADGM/DIFC…
Chile confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 3, 2020. Since then, Chilean institutions have designed several solutions to adjust their operation during the sanitary crisis.1) Specifically, the President declared a “state of constitutional exception of catastrophe”, which allows the Executive branch to take an array of measures to face the sanitary crisis. See:…
The Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) recently ruled on the arbitrability of fraud in the case of Avitel Post Studioz Ltd. v. HSBC PI Holdings [2020] (“Avitel”). The judgement lays down the tests to determine “serious allegations of fraud” and thereby disputes which cannot be resolved through arbitration. Various developments in the jurisprudence of…
The draft bill for the revision of the 12th Chapter of the Swiss Private International Law (“PILA”) was recently approved by the Swiss legislator (as analyzed previously on this blog). Besides permitting the filing of set-aside motions in the English language, the provisions regulating the court assistance have also been revised and adjusted with the…
In a recent decision, New York State’s highest court (the New York Court of Appeals) rejected an argument that a tribunal exceeded its authority, as to warrant vacatur, when it reconsidered and corrected an earlier decision rendered in a “partial final award.” The Court concluded that arbitrators are not functus officio to reconsider an interim…
The arbitration laws of many established arbitral jurisdictions, for instance, the English Arbitration Act 1996, German Code of Civil Procedure, the Swedish Arbitration Act 2019 (see post on the revised Act here) and the US Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, place no restrictions as to who may act as a party representative in an arbitration. The…
Brazil’s new Franchising Law (Law No. 13.966/19) was published on December 27th, 2019 and became effective as of March 27th, 2020. One of the innovations (more of a confirmation) set forth by the new legislation is the provision contained in article 7, paragraph 1, which states that “the parties may resort to arbitration to resolve…
In early September 2020, the United Kingdom (‘UK’) Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, conceded in no uncertain terms that the UK Internal Market Bill would violate public international law, albeit only in “a very specific and limited way“. This immediately caused controversy, to put it mildly. The EU Commission did not take…
Many see the Pan-African Investment Code (PAIC), a model instrument adopted by the African Union (AU) in 2015, as the first step toward the ‘africanization’ of international investment law. While several national and regional instruments on foreign investments had been adopted by African States and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) prior to the PAIC, the latter’s…
There have been six Ukrainian proceedings concerning the enforcement of ICSID awards to date. All have been successful, but Ukrainian courts have erroneously applied the New York Convention’s regime for this purpose. In this post, the authors analyze the inconsistency of such an approach with the ICSID Convention regime and related implications, suggesting options to…
On August 11th, 2020, the Cayman Islands Court of Appeals overturned the decision that denied the enforcement of the arbitral award that ordered the MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners private investment fund (“MP Funds”) to pay approximately USD 55 million to Gol Airlines. The amount refers to the purchase of the airline Varig by Gol. …
