The Report on Online Dispute Resolution platform for consumers issued by the European Commission on 2 October 2019 concludes that “the ODR framework is underused and has yet to reach its full potential”. Against this background, the French legislator has taken a strong stance to promote the use of artificial intelligence and online dispute resolution,…
“I prefer to hope that this shift in perspective will be a chance for people, organisations, businesses, politics, whatever, to put so many of their ongoing disputes and conflicts aside because with this new perspective comes the realisation that these are not worth fighting. It is time to cooperate. May we go through and come…
Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Ms. Letelier! We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of Santiago (“CAM Santiago” for its initials in Spanish), and its administration of complex disputes, as well as about the attractiveness of Santiago as seat for international arbitration. To start,…
In 2019, the United States (‘U.S.’) made six non-disputing Party submissions in investment treaty arbitrations, three of which took place under the NAFTA (Lion Mexico Consol. L.P. v. Mexico; Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. Mexico; and Tennant Energy, LLC v. Canada), and one each of which took place under U.S. agreements with Korea, Peru and Panama (Jin Hae…
Dr. Li Hu is Deputy Secretary-General of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (“CIETAC”), Vice Chairman of China Maritime Arbitration Commission, and also Board Member of the Arbitration Institute of Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. He has authored several publications on dispute resolution in China and has served as arbitrator in over 120 domestic and…
Due process paranoia remains a live issue in international arbitration. Arbitrators can feel under pressure to fulfil their duties to give parties an opportunity to present their case whilst also ensuring that they produce an enforceable arbitral award. This concern to be seen to have delivered due process can arguably be increased when coupled with…
On 31 March 2020, the Republic of Palau (“Palau”) became the 163th state to accede to the United Nations Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “Convention”).1)The authors were engaged by the Asian Development Bank (“ADB”) as part of a team of experts to advise on Palau’s accession to the Convention…
On 25 January 2020, India and Brazil signed an investment agreement (the “India-Brazil BIT”). As an agreement that has been signed at the dawn of the new decade, it is symbolic for a few reasons. First, it is a south-south agreement between two large and growing economies. Second, it abandons investor-state arbitration in favor of…
As some readers of this blog will, no doubt, be aware, free zone arbitration is a comparatively recent phenomenon that has been championed in particular by the UAE in order to create an alternative to arbitrations seated onshore. By way of reminder, in the UAE, free zone arbitrations are seated in one of the judicial…
This is Part 2 of a blog published in two parts. Part 1 dealt with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Court of First Instance (“ADGMCFI”)’s rulings in A3 v. B3 [2019] ADGMCFI 0004 (4 July 2019), enforcing an ADGM arbitration agreement, and in A4 v. B4 [2019] ADGMCFI 0007 (8 October 2019), enforcing a foreign…
Significant advances in technology over the last decade have made videoconferencing a viable alternative to traditional, in-person witness examinations in arbitration. As the use of videoconferencing in international arbitration grows more common, we must ask ourselves: do we have the right tools to eliminate the risks that arise with this new technology? This question led…
The Middle East Vis Pre-Moot Program (the “Program”), scheduled in Bahrain from 10 to 14 March 2020, was prepared and excited to welcome over 200 students, faculty, and lawyers to celebrate the Program’s 10th anniversary. However, on 25 February, amid the unfortunate COVID-19 global pandemic, Bahrain took precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the…
On February 4, 2020, ICSID registered a request for arbitration submitted by the company Odebrecth Latinvest Sarl, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of the Brazilian company Odebrecht SA, against the Republic of Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/20/04). This post analyzes the background to this dispute, as well as the possible strategies that the parties could use during…
The overwhelming weight of opinion among legal practitioners is that enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Kazakhstan is theoretically possible under the New York Convention (“NY Convention”), albeit problematic in practice due to ambiguity in the Kazakh legislations. Many problems associated with the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Kazakhstan and the application…
Afghanistan, in January 2007, enacted its Commercial Arbitration Law to facilitate prompt, fair and neutral resolution of commercial and economic disputes through arbitration. However, despite enactment of the Law, Afghan courts exhibited reluctance to defer to dispute resolution clauses in contracts which directed parties to arbitration. Consequently, till 2013, arbitration was neither considered a viable…
On 25 January 2020, India and Brazil signed an Investment Cooperation and Facilitation Treaty, in the presence of the Brazilian president Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Arguably the most prominent of the 3 BITs that India has signed since adopting the model BIT in December 2015. The new treaty articulates several provisions (briefly discussed below) in departure…
During the recent visit of Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, to India, Brazil and India inked the investment cooperation and facilitation treaty (hereinafter bilateral investment treaty – BIT). From Brazil’s point of view, this BIT is an extension of a novel approach to foreign investment in international law based on investment facilitation and cooperation, not investment protection…
The 15th ICC Turkey Arbitration Day was held on 24 January 2020 in Istanbul. The aims of the conference were to contribute to the development of commercial and investment arbitration in Turkey, to promote Istanbul as a place for arbitration and alternative dispute resolution as well as the work of Turkish arbitration practitioners both on…
On 9 October 2019 the Supreme Court of Ukraine 1)This article refers to the Supreme Court created in the course of the judicial reform of 2016 in Ukraine. (Supreme Court) rendered a decision in a case on setting aside an arbitral award that goes completely against Article 3 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International…
The motive for writing this blog post was conceived during my work as a member of the Technical Secretariat for the Ministerial Committee for Settlement of Investment Contracts Disputes, when I realized the need of both academics and practitioners for access to a reliable database of empirical analyses to support their work. This post is…
Like virtually all arbitration laws, the Austrian Arbitration Act is silent on whether the lack of impartiality and independence of an arbitrator may be invoked for the first time in setting aside proceedings in cases where a party becomes aware of the relevant circumstances only after the award was rendered. The Austrian Supreme Court has,…
Recent legislative developments have shown that Georgia strives to become a hub for dispute resolution in the Caucasus region. The legislative framework on commercial arbitration is now fully tailored to the needs of international commercial arbitration: the law of Georgia on arbitration (the “Law on Arbitration”) is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International…
Over the past few months anti-corruption protesters in Lebanon have taken to the streets calling for widespread reforms to the Lebanese economic and political system. This has caused considerable strain on the country’s already frail economy. The first two weeks of the unrest saw a complete closure of banks with no possibility of making transfers…
In my previous post in September 2018, I discussed certain trends in the negotiation of arbitration provisions in derivatives documentation. I mentioned at the outset that the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) had by then already provided detailed guidance on the use of arbitration clauses in the 2013 ISDA Arbitration Guide. A year on,…
