Public Policy

Arbitration, Awards, DIFC, Dubai, Enforcement, ICC Arbitration, International arbitration, MENA, Middle East, New York Convention, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Stay of Proceedings, UAE, Uncategorized, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

By Order of 11 May 2015 (unpublished) in Case No. ARB 005/2014 – A v. B, Justice Sir David Steel of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance dismissed an application made by an award debtor to set aside an order granted by the DIFC Court on 8 January 2015 (unpublished) for…

Arbitral Award, DIFC, Dubai, Enforcement, Final Award, MENA, Middle East, New York Convention, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, UAE, Uncategorized, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

Attentive readers of this Blog will remember that the Court of Appeal of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) adopted a ruling in the latter half of last year confirming its status as a “host” or “intermediate” – or, in the Court’s own words, “conduit” – jurisdiction for the enforcement of domestic arbitration awards rendered…

Arbitration, Arbitrators, Public Policy

(AZHA Avocats)/ /2 Comments

On the ground that arbitration is a consensual and neutral means of dispute resolution, it has been suggested that arbitrators ought to be wholly and exclusively at the service of the parties and that they are not entrusted with a mission to defend public interests. There may be reasons to call this view into question….

Arbitrability, Arbitral Award, Arbitration clause, Consumer contracts, Interim Orders, Public Policy, Set aside an arbitral award, Slovakia

(Paneuropean University)/ /Leave a comment

The new Slovak Arbitration Act (“SAA”) was adopted by the Parliament (Act. No. 336/2014 Coll.), and is in force as of January 1, 2015. In order to see whether the SAA will promote Slovakia as an arbitration venue, main novelties and amendments brought by this new act are analysed in this blog entry. Arbitrability: Under…

Arbitration Awards, Awards, China, HKIAC, Public Policy

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment

The terms ‘variable interest entity’ (‘VIE’), ‘valuation adjustment mechanism’ (‘VAM’) and ‘public (social) interest of China’ (otherwise, Chinese ‘public policy’) each entail complex legal issues.  They have in the past caused heated debate in China as to their legality (in the cases of VIE and VAM) and their boundaries in the context of enforcement of…

Ad hoc arbitration, Annulment, Arbitral Award, Arbitral seat, Arbitration Awards, International arbitration, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Public Policy

(Mechantaf Law)/ /Leave a comment

In one of the very rare decisions issued by courts in the Arab world applying the provisions of the Unified Agreement for the Investment of Arab Capital in the Arab States (the “UAIAC”), the Cairo Court of Appeal has revived in its decision dated February 5, 2014, the principle of finality of arbitration awards, by…

Appeal, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Awards, DIFC, Dubai, Enforcement, Middle East, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Review on the merits, Uncategorized, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

In a recent ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal (see Case CA-005-2-14, ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal of 3rd November 2014), Justice Sir David Steel affirmed the previous ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance in Banyan Tree v. Meydan Group LLC (see Case No. ARB 003/2013 – Banyan Tree Corporate…

German Federal Supreme Court, Germany, Ordre Public, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Set aside an arbitral award

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

In an order dated 28 January 2014 (file number III ZB 40/13), the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, the “Court”) clarified that an arbitral award can only be set aside in recognition or enforcement proceedings by a state court in “extremely exceptional cases”, i.e. if an award breaches the fundamental principles of the German legal…

Eastern Europe, Enforcement, Europe, New York Convention, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

(Jones Day)/ /Leave a comment
ArbitralWomen

Dr. Ileana M. Smeureanu 1)Ileana Smeureanu is an associate attorney with Jones Day (Paris). This article is based on a speech that the author gave at the ICC YAF/YAPP 6TH Joint Annual Colloquium “Young Approaches to Arbitration”, Vienna (Austria), 12 April 2014. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and…

Arbitration, Portugal, Public Policy

(BCH Advogados)/ /1 Comment

I. The Court of Appeal of Lisbon recently granted recognition of an arbitral award made in Paris, under the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC, holding that the Portuguese law applicable to the Agency Agreement, in spite of being of mandatory nature, do not constitute part of the international public policy of the Portuguese state…

Corruption, Fraud, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction, Public Policy, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

(Covington and Burling LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Chair: Klaus Reichert SC (London) Main Speakers: Dr. Aloysius Llamzon (The Hague), Anthony Sinclair (London) Commentators: Utku Cosar (Istanbul), Carolyn B. Lamm (Washington, DC) Rapporteur: Elizabeth Karanja (Nairobi) No one would seriously challenge the proposition that investor wrongdoing is a systemic threat to international investment arbitration. But what constitutes investor wrongdoing? What are the standards…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Enforcement, India, Public Policy

(National Law University, Jodhpur)/ /Leave a comment

The Supreme Court of India handed down a judgment earlier this month that restates Indian position on the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in line with the international standards. In the case of Shri Lal Mahal Ltd. v. Progetto Grano Spa, a three judge bench of the apex court held that review of a foreign…

Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, Public Policy

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

A recent ruling of the Dubai Court of Cassation (the highest Court in the Emirate, against whose rulings there lies no further appeal) raises serious concerns as to whether the unruly horse of public policy that became infamous in the early nineteenth century in the common law world and in particular along the shorelines of…

Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Middle East, New York Convention, Public Policy, Review on the merits

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

As explored in some detail in Part I of this blog post, recent UAE supervisory court case law has heralded a new era of enforcement of international awards in strict compliance with the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards (the “New York Convention”). To recap, the Maxtel line of…

Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, Public Policy

(Mechantaf Law)/ /Leave a comment

As in most other jurisdictions, the violation of public policy in the UAE constitutes a ground for refusing the recognition of an arbitral award. Public policy is defined in Article 3 of the UAE Civil Code [Federal Law No. (5) of 1985] as follows: “Are considered of Public Policy, rules relating to personal status such…

Asia-Pacific, Confidentiality, Public Policy

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

Confidentiality is often a distinguishing reason why users choose arbitration over court litigation. In a 2010 International Arbitration Survey on Choices in International Arbitration, 62% of respondents said confidentiality was very important to them. Last month, a contributor to this blog observed anecdotally that in-house counsel want confidentiality especially in industries in which a dispute…

Annulment, International arbitration, Public Policy, Sport arbitration, Supreme Court, Switzerland

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

With its decision of 27 March 2012, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court held unlawful a disciplinary sanction by which FIFA threatened the football player Matuzalem with a lifetime ban in case he failed to pay a damage claim of his former club and employer. By an earlier decision of the CAS, Francelino da Silva Matuzalem,…

Arbitration, Competition Law, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, Jurisdiction, Public Policy

(Baker & McKenzie)/ /1 Comment
YIAG

A commentary on the OECD Competition Commission conclusions on using arbitration to effectively resolve competition law disputes By Francesca Richmond and Sarah West There has been increasing use of arbitration to resolve disputes involving competition law issues in recent years. However, it is surprising that the number is not even greater given that arbitral processes…

Appeal, Arbitration Awards, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, Enforcement, National Arbitration Laws, Principle of finality, Pro arbitration, Public Policy, Waiver

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

Last month’s judgment of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal (“CA“) in Gao Haiyan and Xie Heping v. Keeneye Holdings and another CACV 79/2011, is the latest in a long line of cases demonstrating the pro-enforcement approach of the Hong Kong courts. The decision makes clear that it is not the place of the Hong…

Investment agreements, Public Policy

/ /2 Comments

A few years ago, stabilization clauses in investment contracts became the subject of increased attention by human rights and development groups. A report on Stabilization Clauses and Human Rights, issued by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Business and Human Rights, John Ruggie, was the first comprehensive study to draw on a range of heretofore…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Efficiency, Foreign Investment Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Public Policy

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

In its 4 August 2011 Decision on Jurisdiction and Admissibility, the majority of the Tribunal in Abaclat and Others (Case formerly known as Giovanna a Beccara and Others) v. Argentine Republic affirmed that it had jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina arising out of Argentina’s default on various sovereign…

Asia-Pacific, Public Policy, Set aside an international arbitral award, Settlement

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

At the Herbert Smith Singapore Management University Asian Arbitration Lecture delivered by Michael Hwang SC on 4 August 2011, Hwang SC discussed incisively issues concerning the enforcement of arbitral awards concerning contracts allegedly tainted by corruption. Less than three weeks after that seminal lecture, the Singapore Court of Appeal in AJU v AJT [2011] SGCA…

New York Convention, Public Policy

(Allen & Overy LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The public policy exception under Article V(2)(b) of the New York Convention is well recognised as the amorphous exception. To the extent it has been capable of definition, it has been found to embrace nebulous concepts such as a state’s most basic notions of morality and justice. No doubt it is for this reason that…