The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington has enforced a settlement between a Jones Act seaman and his employer for maintenance and cure payments, pursuant to the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”). Castro v. Tri Marine Fish Co., LLC, 2017…
On 1 March 2017 the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) ruled on whether potential claims under the Austrian Commercial Agents Act (Handelsvertretergesetz) can be brought before an Austrian court even if the underlying agency agreement contains an arbitration clause and is governed by the laws of New York (OGH 1.3.2017, 5 Ob 72/16y). The judgment…
As arbitration gains prominence, legislative regimes governing domestic arbitration are fast liberalizing globally, and in some instances, like in South Korea, liberalizing faster than the regime governing international arbitration. The question we consider in this post is whether Contracting Parties to the New York Convention on the Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”)…
We make reference to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog post of 23 September 2016 by Sapna Jhangiani and Rosehana Amin, entitled ‘The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: A Rival to the New York Convention and a ‘Game-Changer’ for International Disputes?’. That blog concluded that the Hague Convention was potentially a game changer. We respectfully…
Introduction The dispute over the enforcement of an arbitration award (“Award”) between the Astro and Lippo groups of companies has been fought out in numerous jurisdictions, notably Singapore and Hong Kong. When Astro sought to enforce the Award it had obtained against Lippo in Singapore, Lippo resisted on the ground that the tribunal (“Tribunal”) lacked…
Sierra Leone’s inaugural Commercial Law Summit was held this March (2017) on the theme of facilitating responsible private sector development through improvements in commercial law justice (Hebert Smith Freehill and UK-Sierra Leone Pro-Bono Network, ‘Conference Pack’, 2017). The summit provided a distinctive opportunity for the main stakeholders in commercial law and justice to map out…
The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) is a lynchpin of the international arbitration system. The New York Convention provides a means for parties in one member state to enforce judgments issued by arbitration tribunals in another member state. In the United States, Congress…
In 1976, ICCA published the first ICCA Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, compiled and edited by Professor Pieter Sanders, assisted by Professor Albert Jan van den Berg. In the introduction to this first edition, Prof. Sanders wrote, “This Yearbook is the first of a series of at least five… .” Forty years later, the Yearbook is 41…
Last week, Theresa May delivered her long-awaited speech setting out Britain’s broad objectives in forthcoming Brexit negotiations with the EU. She confirmed the rumours of a “hard Brexit” by indicating Her Majesty’s Government’s intention to see the UK out from the Single Market and the Custom Union and to seek “a new and equal partnership…
The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) is the engine that makes international arbitration an effective mechanism to resolve disputes. The purpose of the New York Convention is to encourage and simplify the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. In the case of Figueiredo…
To investors’ relief, in a recent ruling (see Case No. 384/2016, ruling of the Dubai Court of Cassation of 19 June 2016), the Dubai Court of Cassation reversed the lower court’s refusal to enforce an award rendered under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in London, England, on the basis…
The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“The New York Convention”) is the engine that makes international arbitration an effective mechanism to resolve disputes. The national courts of each signatory state give meaning to the New York Convention’s terms by rendering decisions interpreting the text of the document….
The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“The New York Convention”) is an international instrument: a treaty between 156 States. It is interpreted on the basis of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (“The VCLT”). The VCLT is further defined in this post with a useful…
Last month, it was announced in a legal press release (“press release”) that the Enforcement Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia had decided to enforce an US$18.5 million ICC arbitral award rendered in London in favour of its client, a UAE subsidiary of a Greek telecom company. The press release stated that it believed this to…
The New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“NYC“) was drafted in the spirit and with the purpose of encouraging arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism, by providing for the simple and swift international enforcement of arbitral awards. Today, the NYC’s reach is – with the exception of a few…
Favorable ICSID awards are undoubtedly a valuable commodity. By virtue of the ICSID Convention, which features 153 Contracting States, such awards are automatically enforceable in nearly 80% of countries around the world. But enforcement of an award is only half of the equation; award holders must also navigate the separate, but equally important, task of executing the…
It is generally accepted that arbitral tribunals enjoy a “liberty of decision”, which I have suggested as meaning, “the freedom of the arbitral tribunal from external restraint, compulsion, or interference in making its decision…”[1] Such a right may be viewed as a facet of the justiciable right to freedom of expression, since the exercise of…
In a recent enforcement action of a foreign arbitral award rendered under the ICC Rules in London, England, the Dubai Court of Appeal questioned the United Kingdom’s proper membership of the 1958 New York Convention (on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards) (the “NYC” or simply the “Convention”). The action was brought by…
In December 2015, the Brazilian Judiciary faced, for the first time, the question as to whether a foreign arbitral award annulled by the Judiciary at the arbitration seat could be granted recognition. Specifically, in EDF International S/A v. Endesa LatinoAmérica S/A & YPF S/A (SEC No. 5.782/AR), the EDF International S/A corporation (“EDFI”) commenced arbitration…
A July 2015 decision of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (Tribunal Superior de Justicia), the competent court to decide on the setting aside of an award when the seat of the arbitration is Madrid, declared non-arbitrable a controversy between two multinational Spanish operators in the natural gas sector. The dispute arose over the…
by Sonja Heppner, Trinity College Dublin, School of Law The text of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) as agreed upon between the United States and Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam on 5 October 2015 provides for public arbitral hearings. The approach taken by the prospective signatories of…
A ruling of the Austrian Supreme Court, the Oberste Gerichtshof in Vienna, Austria, of earlier this year (see ruling of 18 February 2015, 2 Ob 22/14w) raises anew the much debated question of the type and intensity of supervisory court review of European Union (EU) competition law awards. Readers may recall that EU competition law…
In 1996, when the Brazilian Arbitration Act (“BAA”) came into force, the New York Convention (“NYC”) was still facing considerable resistance from the Brazilian Executive and Legislative branches. At that time, there were few indications that the NYC would be ratified in the near future. This is why the draftsmen of the bill (a bill…
By Order of 11 May 2015 (unpublished) in Case No. ARB 005/2014 – A v. B, Justice Sir David Steel of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance dismissed an application made by an award debtor to set aside an order granted by the DIFC Court on 8 January 2015 (unpublished) for…
