Jurisdiction

Africa, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, International arbitration

(Equanimity Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

What is FDI? Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is investment in the shares of an enterprise operating in a country other than the home country. Typically, such investment can either be in the form of ‘mortar and brick’ investment or mergers and acquisitions. FDI has a major impact on the economic growth of developing countries. Africa…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Maritime Arbitration, Scandinavia

, (Gorrissen Federspiel)/ /1 Comment

The Nordics now boast two Nomas – the world-famous Danish restaurant (noma) and the Nordic Offshore and Maritime Arbitration Association (NOMA). NOMA began operations early this year, and its rules and best practice suggest a more pragmatic, quicker and cheaper service than traditional institutions. NOMA was established as an initiative of the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian…

Arbitration, Brazil, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

(American Bar Association)/ /Leave a comment
ArbitralWomen

In the past decade, the legal landscape in Brazil has changed significantly to better accommodate alternative dispute resolution methods, including mediation, conciliation, and arbitration. Brazil recently revised its Civil Procedure Code (Law 13.105/2015) and its arbitration law (Law 13.129/2015). It also enacted a mediation law (Law No. 13.140/2015). These major pieces of legislation contain provisions…

Anti-suit injunction, Brexit, Brussels Regulation, UK

, (Coventry Law School, Coventry University)/ /1 Comment

Background UK courts senior courts have the power to issue an anti-suit injunction in favor of arbitration where a party commences foreign court proceedings in breach of a valid arbitration agreement (Senior Courts Act 1981 s.37(1)). At the heart of this controversial remedy lies a concern that anti-suit injunction is an indirect interference with the…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Spain

(Colibra Insurance)/ /Leave a comment

The initially alluring and subsequently vehemently amended incentives for investments in renewable energy projects across Europe have given rise to a significant number of arbitration claims brought on basis of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and various BITs. Currently there are tens of pending investment treaty arbitrations with respect to renewable energy projects in Spain,…

Achmea, Arbitration, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, European Commission, European Union, Italy, Spain

(Clyde & Co.)/ /Leave a comment
Clyde & Co.

There has been much comment about recent awards in Energy Charter Treaty (‘ECT’) arbitrations concerning investors’ claims against Spain and other EU states regarding renewable energy projects . The fortunes of investors and states have waxed and waned over the last few years, but overall it seemed that investors faced a considerable hurdle. In recent…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Belt Road Initiative, China, Europe, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

/ /Leave a comment

The Belt-and-Road Initiative (“BRI“) is a grand vision about connectivity, infrastructure, trade and unimpeded foreign direct investment (“FDI“) flows. It is a path to China’s largest export market  – the European Union – which does not only propose to ‘transit’ Eurasia (and coastal East Africa), but to radically transform it. And, thus, mere construction and…

Achmea, CJEU, European Convention on Human Rights, European Union

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /4 Comments

The Achmea judgment, passed on the 6th of March 2018, and addressed in the Kluwer blog posts available here and here, prompted us to think about what could be the way forward for an effective investment and investor protection within the EU. Now that the CJEU decided that investment treaty arbitration based on intra-EU BITs…

Announcement, Arab World, Arbitration, Enforcement, foreign direct investment, Iraq, New York Convention, World Bank

(Armstrong Teasdale)/ /1 Comment

  It has been on the cards for many years. But on 6 February 2018, days before the Kuwait reconstruction conference, the Iraqi cabinet officially agreed to endorse the ratification of New York Convention of 1958 and table it with Parliament. The decision finally to accede to the treaty coincides with the eradication of Da-esh…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Hungary

, (Schoenherr)/ /Leave a comment
Schoenherr

Following the entry into force of the new act on arbitration (Act LX of 2017 on Arbitration, the “Act”) this year, the Arbitration Court attached to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“HCCI”) adopted its new procedural rules (“Arbitration Rules”) effective and applicable as of 1 February 2018. It was to some degree expected…

Achmea, BIT, CJEU, European Union, Intra-EU BITs

(Reed Smith) and (Fieldfisher)/ /2 Comments
Linklaters

Introduction In a much anticipated judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea B.V. (Case C-284/16), the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruled yesterday that the arbitration clause contained in Article 8 of the 1991 Netherlands-Slovakia BIT (the “BIT”) has an adverse effect on the autonomy of EU law, and is therefore incompatible with…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Counsel, FAI, Finland, IBA Guidelines on Party Representation

(Hannes Snellman)/ /3 Comments
Finland Arbitration Institute (FAI)

Introduction It is generally accepted in international arbitration that an arbitral tribunal has an inherent power, and duty, to preserve the fairness and integrity of the arbitral proceedings and the enforceability of the award. On the other hand, it is equally uncontested that a party to an arbitration has a right to be represented by…

Arbitration, Energy, ISDS, Mexico, NAFTA, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The 5th Annual ITA-IEL-ICC Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration was held in Houston last month, and the focus was on the year past and the year ahead in the arbitration of international disputes in the energy industry. From the topics discussed, predictions rendered and questions raised at the conference, attendees departed considering whether the…

Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration, Indonesia, SIAC

(MacalloHarlin Advocates)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

There have been a number of occasions in Indonesia when domestic court proceedings and foreign arbitration proceedings of the same matter were carried out concurrently. In some of those occasions, the arbitral tribunal, upon the claimant’s request, issued an anti-suit injunction in respect of the Indonesian court proceedings brought by the respondent. In Astro Nusantara…

Arbitration, Enforcement, France, Immunity, Investment Arbitration

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

The views expressed herein are the personal views of the authors and do not reflect those of their law firm. In France, until recently, rules governing the issue of sovereign immunity from enforcement, and in particular those setting out the scope and conditions under which such immunities apply, derived from case law. Although relevant international…

Arbitrability, Arbitration, India

(Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.) and / /3 Comments

The (Indian) Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 does not specify which disputes are arbitrable and which are not. The arbitrability of disputes is a contested issue and has been left for the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis. In Himangni Enterprises v. Kamaljeet Singh Ahluwalia (“Himangni Enterprises”), the arbitrability of disputes under a lease…

Africa, Arbitration, OHADA

(Terrien Avocat) and (Sciences Po Paris)/ /Leave a comment

Founded 20 years ago, the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) is a group of 17 African States who have joined efforts to enact unified legislation in all areas of business law in order to promote investments by fostering legal certainty across member States.  The OHADA Treaty acknowledged the importance of…

Arbitration, Consolidation, Finland

(Hannes Snellman)/ /Leave a comment
Finland Arbitration Institute (FAI)

Introduction Consolidation means combining two or more arbitrations that are pending under a specific set of rules into a single arbitration proceeding. In appropriate circumstances, consolidation has various advantages. Most importantly, it eliminates the risk of having contradictory awards rendered in different proceedings on closely related sets of facts. Additionally, it makes for procedural and…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Germany

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

The new arbitration rules of the German Institution of Arbitration (Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit – “DIS”) will enter into force on 1 March 2018 (“DIS Rules 2018”). It is the first revision of the DIS Rules since the current version was adopted in 1998 (“DIS Rules 1998”). The revision process involved nearly 300 persons sitting…

Commercial Court of Paris, Commercial Law, France, Specialised Chamber

(Addleshaw Goddard LLP)/ /1 Comment
Jeantet

In 2010, the Commercial Court of Paris created a specialised international and European court chamber in order to judge all international complex commercial cases in the first instance. Although French procedural rules continue to apply before this court chamber, evidence and oral debates can take place in a foreign language, if the judges and the…

Brexit, ISDS, NAFTA, UK, United States

(Allen & Overy) and (Jenner & Block LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In the first part of this article, we discussed the need to broaden the debate about the UK’s future trading relationships, touched upon some potential advantages of the UK joining the NAFTA and traced the idea’s limited history. Is there political will? These days, the idea remains on the periphery, even out of sight. Each…

Brexit, ISDS, NAFTA, UK, United States

(Allen & Overy) and (Jenner & Block LLP)/ /Leave a comment

To many, it would seem foolish even to ask whether the UK might join the North American Free Trade Agreement. Yet, the UK should explore all possibilities open in a post-Brexit world. As we explain, the idea that the UK might join the NAFTA is not only conceptually interesting, but also merits entertaining with a…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Brazil, Latin America, Precedent

(Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo)/ /Leave a comment

This post covers the main topics broached in my lecture given in Oxford, in the Conference “II Oxford Symposium on Comparative International Commercial Arbitration”, which took place on November 20, 2017. The question is: are arbitrators bound by precedents or by a clear line of case law, when parties have decided, in the arbitration agreement, that…

Israel, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

, (Lapidot, Melchior, Abramovich & Co.)/ /Leave a comment

On 31 December 2017, Israel’s Supreme Court published an important precedential decision concerning enforcement procedures of ‘made in Israel’ commercial arbitral awards. In Request for Appeal 1739/17, Michael Flacks v. Stephan Bisk (in Hebrew), the Israeli Supreme Court denied a motion for service of process abroad in a petition to confirm an arbitration award issued…