On May 22, the new General Organic Code of Processes (GOCP) was enacted (Official Register Supplement N. 506). Excluding constitutional, electoral and criminal matters, the GOCP will regulate all judicial procedures in Ecuador. It is a long expected and generally very welcome reform in the Ecuadorian judicial system. It replaces an outdated spaghetti bowl…
On 27 July 2015 the Bill amending to the Brazilian Arbitration Law will come into force, introducing significant changes in the arbitration legal framework, which, according to the stated purpose of the amendments, aim at improving the original Brazilian Arbitration Law, enacted in 1996. The amendments attempt to consolidate established practices as well as settling…
On May 26, 2015, Brazil signed its third investment treaty of 2015 with Mexico. Given the agreements previously signed with Angola and Mozambique, this certainly comes as a confirmation of a new Brazilian attitude towards the regulation of foreign investment. The instrument mostly follows the same model used for the previous two: a Cooperation and…
Introduction As reported by Clyde & Co for the Kluwer Arbitration Blog on 12 January 2015, the Singapore High Court released its decision in PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) TBK v CRW Joint Operation (Indonesia) [2014] SGHC 146 relating to PT Perusahaan Gas’ (PGN) unsuccessful appeal of an interim arbitral award made in favour of…
No doubt that the last three years have been quite busy for the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and for the Energy Charter Conference. The number of investor-state arbitration cases under Article 26 of the ECT doubled in this time span, going from thirty known cases to sixty-eight (as reported on the website of the Energy…
The controversial dispute between the Ecuadorian government and the multinational corporation Chevron arose from the operations undertaken by Texpet –a subsidiary of Texaco at that time- on the country’s Amazon region during the eighties. Texpet was the operator undertaking the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in association with Petroecuador, formerly CEPE, the state-owned oil company…
Ad hoc arbitration, in which the proceedings are administered by the disputing parties, their counsel and the arbitral tribunal without the involvement of an arbitral institution, can perhaps seem a daunting prospect in any jurisdiction. Thailand has arbitral institutions on hand to provide their services — including the well-established Thai Arbitration Institute (“TAI“) and the…
The National Commercial Arbitration Centre of the Kingdom of Cambodia (“NCAC”) was conceived in 2006, when Cambodia’s Commercial Arbitration Law entered into force. The initiative to create the centre surfaced as a part of Cambodia’s attempt to attract foreign investment on the one hand and to offer a viable alternative to domestic litigation to local…
Party autonomy is a well-established cornerstone of arbitration, which treats the parties as the true creators of the arbitral procedure. Hybrid arbitration clauses are built on this cornerstone. In a certain type of hybrid arbitration clause, the parties place the administration of arbitration in the hands of one arbitration institution by using the rules of…
Ever since the EU started to develop its investment policy, anti-ISDS groups started an unprecedented campaign. Indeed, on the very same day (7 July 2010) the European Commission published its first Communication on the EU’s investment policy, the anti-ISDS groups had a 100 page publication ready calling for the dismantling of international investment arbitration. Since…
Prior to 2012, India faced widespread criticism from the international arbitral community over a series of judgments concerning arbitration. Much has changed since 2012 – in the post-Bharat Aluminium (“BALCO”) era. A pro-arbitration approach by the judiciary was reflected in a series of judgments that came after the BALCO judgment, such as Reliance Industries (Reliance…
Co-Authored with Hanna Shalbanava (Sysouev, Bondar, Khrapoutski) According to paragraph 1.2.2. of the Guidelines for Arbitrators on how to approach the making of awards on interest adopted by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators “an arbitrator should make an award or awards of interest to cover two distinct periods (a) the period up to the date…
Keeping abreast of Australia’s stance on ISDS can be a confusing exercise. Australia’s approach to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) continues to be hotly debated in the wake of recent revelations by Wikileaks that the investment chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is likely to include ISDS provisions. The Australian government’s stance on ISDS has undergone…
and Katherine Bell, Schellenberg Wittmer In 2014, the Swiss Supreme Court rendered 32 decisions on petitions to set aside international arbitral awards. Consistent with a traditionally low success rate, the Supreme Court granted only 4 of the 32 petitions. One of these four petitions was considered in a French-language decision dated 7 April 2014 (Decision…
The facts of the situation are simple: the claimant goes to the domestic courts and the defendant argues that there is an arbitral agreement. The court judge upholds the jurisdictional objection and refers the parties to arbitration but, once the arbitration proceedings are over, the claimant party appeals to have the award annulled on the…
and Alessa Pang, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP Arbitrator challenges for inordinate delay can be awkward. However, what happens if the arbitrator decides to render an award before the challenge is concluded? Does rendering the award resolve the matter? Under Article 14(1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law (“Model Law”), an arbitrator’s mandate may be terminated…
Mediation has gained much popularity in Croatia in the last several years, and the Croatian legislator regulated enforceability of mediation in Article 18 of the Croatian Mediation Act (Official Gazette No. 18/2011, “the MA”). The solutions provided in the MA are to a large extent resembling the solutions in the UNCITRAL Model Law on International…
The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Poland prepared and published a draft act (“the Draft Law”) (a draft law on promoting amicable dispute resolution methods, available in Polish here ). The Draft Law proposes amendments to the Polish Arbitration Law (part five of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”), Official Journal of…
The Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation are implementing dispute avoidance and resolution provisions in a unique way across 35 contracts for this upcoming international event. Successful delivery for these high profile projects is critical, since there is no possibility of delay to completion of the contracts, and everything…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ordered a fund management committee (‘SBC’) to arbitrate its dispute with Navistar International (‘Navistar’) – at Navistar’s request – despite the fact that Navistar refused SBC’s own request for arbitration, ignored SBC’s formal notice of arbitration, and then litigated SBC’s claim in court for over a year (Art…
The UAE law on arbitration is contained in a dozen provisions in the UAE Civil Procedures Law. Whilst the law is not long, the provisions can often be overlooked by tribunal’s and counsel. Unfortunately the local courts usually take a strict view as to compliance, as illustrated in a recent decision by the Dubai Court…
After the fall of communism, Hungary embraced modern arbitration law. Act LXXI of 1994 (“the Arbitration Law”) created a comprehensive legal regime for both domestic and international arbitration, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. State courts generally exercised a liberal approach in connection with arbitral proceedings and awards. However, some recent developments in Hungarian law…
and Brenda Horrigan and Rebecca Soquier, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Shanghai The sanctions arising out of the Ukrainian crisis have led commercial entities to consider their options for resolving current or potential disputes. In this post, we consider the impact of the sanctions against Russia on the future of dispute resolution for Russian entities and…
Introduction The Government of India recently released the Draft Indian Model BIT (“Draft BIT”) for public consultation. India has an extensive BIT network with over 72 BITs in force. In 2012, following the investment treaty award against India in White Industries award, the Government initiated a comprehensive effort to revise the Model Indian BIT (“Old…
