Introduction On November 21, 2018, the Swedish Parliament adopted revisions to the Swedish Arbitration Act with the aim of modernizing it to further facilitate effective and attractive international and domestic arbitration in Sweden. The welcomed revisions will become effective for arbitrations commenced from March 1, 2019,1) The exceptions for application to arbitrations commenced after…
The 8th edition of the Herbert Smith Freehills – SMU Asian Arbitration Lecture, jointly organised with the Centre for Cross-border Commercial Law at the Singapore Management University, took place on 18 October 2018. The distinguished event, graced by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, hosted a panel comprising: Sir Christopher Greenwood, DAG Lionel Yee, Judith Gill QC…
After introduction by the French Arbitration Committee’s (Comité Français de l’Arbitrage or “CFA”) President, Mr. Laurent Jaeger, Mr. Yves Derains started his speech on “The Professionalism of the Arbitrator” by saying that arbitration has become the natural way to resolve international disputes.1) This note was based on Mr. Yves Derains’ speech at the 10 October 2018 Conference of the French…
India signed the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, 1958, commonly known as the New York Convention (“the Convention”), on 10th June, 1958 and ratified it on 13th July, 1960. Often criticised as a “non-friendly” arbitration jurisdiction by the international community, this post analyses how India has fared in its obligations under…
In this continuing series of blog posts, we have been using Dispute Resolution Data (DRD)’s growing repository of international arbitration case data to analyze the extent to which such cases reach various outcomes, whether it be an award being rendered, administrative closure, dismissal, impasse, or settlement/withdrawal (which we treat as a single, distinct outcome). Our…
In February 2018, the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow issued a ruling1) Ruling of the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the City of Moscow dated 8 February 2018, case No. A40-176466/17-83-1232. denying the recognition and enforcement of an ICC award issued in favor of Dredging and Maritime Management SA (Luxembourg) against JSC Inzhtransstroy…
This blog previously carried a post (“previous post”) on the Indian Supreme Court’s (“SC”) progressive approach to binding non-signatories to an arbitration agreement in Ameet Lalchand Shah and Others v Rishabh Enterprises and Another (“Ameet Lalchand”). The present post briefly discusses another aspect of this approach in context of Cheran Properties Limited v Kasturi and…
With development in the African continent on the rise, the region is seeing the introduction and/ or revamping of its arbitration centres. One such development is the establishment of the China Africa Joint Arbitration Centre (CAJAC) to resolve commercial disputes between Chinese and African parties. Not an unsurprising development given China’s commitment to invest $60…
The advent of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018 within the EU and the European Economic Area, has sparked a renewed debate within the arbitration community about importance of adequate consideration being given to the collection, preservation and protection of data in arbitral proceedings. The GDPR…
The proposed amendments (“Bill”) to the Indian arbitration law may soon get the force of law. The Bill is based on the report (“Report”) of a High Level Committee and suggests several changes which may have far-reaching negative effect. In my earlier post, it was argued that the Report and the Bill have some…
The debate around the ‘extension’ of arbitration agreements has, once again, been placed under the spotlight in Brazil. The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (‘SCJ’) recently considered the issue in disputes involving groups of contracts between the same parties. The SCJ ruled in favour of the ‘extension’ of the arbitration agreement contained in the main…
Arbitration in the UAE is governed by the Federal Arbitration Law No. 6 of 2018 (“UAE Arbitration Law”). The UAE Arbitration Law, which entered into force in June 2018, repealed Articles 203 to 218 of the UAE Civil Procedures Law No. 11 of 1992 (“CPC”), which previously governed arbitration in the UAE. Unlike the former…
Background The Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”) provides, in Section 37(2)(b), for an ‘appeal’ from an arbitral tribunal’s order on interim/provisional measures (“interim order”). It, however, does not stipulate the standard of review that the court must apply while reviewing an interim order. Sans any prescribed legislative standard, courts have two alternatives available: test…
The last decade has seen multiparty arbitration emerge as a contentious issue in investment treaty arbitration. Beginning with Abaclat v Argentina, investment tribunals have grappled with whether similarly-situated, but otherwise unrelated investors with distinct investments, can bundle their claims in a single arbitration. While decisions on this issue continue to evolve, a new ground for…
The Supreme Court of India (“SC”) in its recent decision M/s Lion Engineering Consultants v. State of M.P. & Ors. (“Lion”) has held that a party that had failed to raise a jurisdictional challenge before the arbitral tribunal under Section 16 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”), would yet be permitted to raise such…
Ex aequo et bono1)The author is grateful to Professors Leon Trakman and Luke Nottage for their comment on early drafts of this blog article.This blog post is based on the author’s PhD thesis. is a legal concept that confers on arbitrators the power to decide a dispute in accordance with their sense of fairness and…
Not long after the ICCA Congress held in Sydney, the Japan International Dispute Resolution Center (JIDRC) was established in Osaka on 1 May 2018, with some fanfare from the Japanese government and local legal circles. ‘JIDRC-Osaka’ does not provide arbitration services but offers specialist facilities for international arbitration hearings and other forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution…
Introduction Unquestionably, Spain captures the highest percentage of arbitration procedures for cuts applied to renewable energies, accumulating almost thirty ongoing lawsuits from foreign investors, with claims pending in the ICSID, in the SCC and in the ICC arbitrations. Spain as the respondent was successful in the first two arbitrations, but these were unique cases and…
Many arbitration centres trumpet innovativeness as their selling point. One commonly cited proof of innovativeness is ‘software upgrades’, i.e., centres revising rules to introduce new arbitral procedures. These are intended to make arbitration cheaper, faster, and fairer. Introducing New Arbitral Procedures – First Movers New procedures introduced over the past decade include emergency arbitration (“EA“),…
The title of this post may, at a first sight, seem rather odd, but this author submits that choice of a governing contract law can actually be explained using ice cream as an analogy. Assuming an individual generally likes ice cream, a question that arises is whether any thought has ever gone into why…
Introduction On 23 July 2018, this blog posted a commentary entitled “Choice of Remedies Doctrine – A Jack-In-The-Box?” The commentary explored the Singapore High Court’s decision in Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd v Avant Garde Maritime Services (Private) Limited [2018] SGHC 78 (“Rakna”), and its implications. The commentary also revisited the Singapore Court of Appeal’s decision…
On the 60th anniversary of the New York Convention, we can generally conclude that the public policy basis for refusing to enforce an arbitration award has for the most part worked as the drafters intended. The drafters knew that by permitting courts to refuse to enforce foreign arbitral awards based on public policy, they were…
Introduction: Two of the most frequent buzz words in our world right now are without doubt: Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Both technologies have definitely grabbed the attention of the international arbitration community, however, most of the current literature contemplates far-fetched scenarios and how these technologies can revolutionize the world of international arbitration. These articles…
On 13 November 2018, ICSID will present its new proposed amendments at a major conference in London. This round of amendments aims, among other things, to modernize the ICSID procedure based on case experience, simplify the rules, and make the process increasingly time and cost effective while maintaining due process and a balance between investors…
