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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has enforced an arbitration clause in a maritime insurance policy, finding the policy subject to the Federal Arbitration Act, and not “reverse preempted” by the McCarran-Ferguson Act. In so holding, the court determined that the policy’s choice-of-law clause and arbitration provision controlled over somewhat different language…
INTRODUCTION Germany is considered as one of the most arbitration friendly jurisdictions in Europe if not world-wide, not least because the 1998 arbitration law is almost a verbatim translation of the UNCITRAL Model law. This arbitration-friendliness always encompassed also corporate disputes, safe for one minor, but important exception: arbitrations concerning the validity of shareholder…
Increased investment in South East Asia has led to a growth in the supply and demand for dispute resolution services in the region. Indonesia is no exception, with disputes increasingly submitted to the Badan Arbitrase Nasional Indonesia (“BANI”) – the country’s most popular and well recognised arbitration centre. Recently however, BANI has seemingly split into…
On December 12, 2017, the Supreme Court of Japan rendered its first decision on the setting aside of an arbitral award based on an arbitrator’s failure to disclose facts allegedly constituting a conflict of interest, reasoning that, in order for the award to be set aside on this ground, it is necessary that the arbitrator…
The present analysis critically focuses on some aspects of the Opinion on the intra-EU BITs issued by AG Wathelet in the Achmea case (Case C-284/16) in September 2017. The Opinion has been extensively commented on in previously published posts on this blog. As such posts have noted, the AG’s position that intra-EU BITs are…
The judicial review of arbitral awards has been a continuous topic of discussion amongst scholars and legislators. Considering the major effects of the seat of the arbitration in annulment proceedings, even when the arbitral award is in principle final and binding, local legislators are faced with the need to balance the aim of assuring the…
At the dawn of the New Year, foreign arbitration specialists will welcome some reassurance to the effect that the amendments made to the UAE Advocacy Law, also known as Federal Law No. (23) of 1991 on the Regulation of the Legal Profession, in November 2017 (see Ministerial Resolution No. (972) of 2017 on the Executive…
“Japan is Back”? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself is certainly back – having led the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to a fifth consecutive election in October 2017. If Abe remains in power for another three years, he will become the longest serving Japanese prime minister since World War II. Although the electorate probably responded…
Historic grandeur, impressive architecture, outstanding cultural offerings, natural beauty and diversity, good value for money, beauty, safety, timelessness… Austria truly has a lot going for itself. Yet, should this still not be enough to tempt arbitration users and practitioners around the globe, the new Arbitration and Mediation Rules of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC)…
In a previous post, the issue of finality of arbitral awards in Nigeria was discussed and it was concluded that the review of awards is not in itself a vice to arbitration. In this post, I share further observations on the finality debacle with emphasis on the pro-finality judicial policy in Nigeria. Are our Criticisms…
Introduction Article 48.1 FAI Rules provides that, in any international arbitration, FAI shall fix an advance on costs which the parties must pay in full before the case file is transmitted to the arbitral tribunal. Like under many other institutional arbitration rules, the starting point under the FAI cost regime is that FAI will fix…
Under the Japanese Arbitration Act, which was established based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 2003, parties may file a petition with a court requesting the court to set aside an arbitral award under certain circumstances. In such petition, parties frequently assert, among others, that “the terms of the arbitral award…
The Question The question of enforcing arbitral awards which had been subject to set-aside proceedings at their seat is long-standing in academic debate1) For instance, Nadia Darwazeh, Article V (1)(e), in Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: A Global Commentary on the New York Convention 301, 307-09 (H. Kronke, P. Nacimiento et al. eds.,…
The need to attract foreign oil & gas investment due to the current low price in Latin American countries is creating an environment were once non-friendly arbitration jurisdictions are increasingly accepting international arbitration clauses for complex landmark deals. This trend is being used within Stock Purchase Agreements of Mixed Oil Companies, Prepaid Oil Agreements when…
A feature of arbitration that makes it appealing to the user is the finality of arbitral awards. Parties are encouraged, upon the advice of counsel to submit to the arbitral process because the end result is final and not subject to appeal. However, the reality as users come to find, is that an award is…
On October 3, 2017, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law on Amendments to Codes of Commercial, Civil and Administrative Procedures of Ukraine, an 800-pages document aimed at solving the blatant problems of Ukrainian justice by replacing the three existing procedural codes. The Law has been promulgated on November 28, 2017 and the new Procedural Codes…
Ad hoc arbitration in Armenia entails several legal issues. The first issue discussed here is related to the concept of “place of arbitration”. The problem is generated out of a very specific wording of the Armenian Arbitration Act. From the perspective of international arbitration, Armenia is classified as a Model Law country, as it adopted…
