Assignment issues are often of decisive importance in international arbitrations given the hard-edged nature of questions of jurisdiction, title, and standing. These issues are often less simple than they would first appear, especially in cases involving the interaction of multiple legal systems, complex financing arrangements, insurance or insolvency. On 12 January 2024, the English Court…
On 18 March 2024, the first day of the Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”), the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and Université Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne held a joint conference on crypto assets and arbitration. The first roundtable, moderated by Professor Mathias Audit and Dr. Maria Fanou, provided a general introduction on…
On 18 March 2024, the international arbitration community gathered in Paris to kick off the 8th edition of Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”). Kluwer Arbitration Blog is again this year the official media partner of PAW. This blogpost offers a summary of notable events that took place on the first day of PAW, and notably of the…
Under the Indian Contract Act 1872 (“ICA”), an arbitration agreement is a distinct and separate contract. Like all other contracts, it can be transferred by way of assignment to third parties under Section 37 of the ICA. The Supreme Court of India in Khardah Company Ltd vs Raymon & Co. (India) Private Ltd has held…
Large arbitral awards have generally given rise to multi-jurisdictional post-award litigation (see Yukos). The Deutsche Telekom v India saga is a similar instance, with the Republic of India (“India”) having challenged the arbitral awards before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (“seat court”) and the courts in Germany, Singapore, and the United States (“US”) (“enforcement courts”)….
On 20 February 2024, Papua New Guinea (“PNG”) passed a dual-track legislative regime regulating arbitration (“New Arbitration Regime”), with the Arbitration (International) Act 2024 (“IAA”) governing international arbitration and a separate Arbitration (Domestic) Act 2024 (“DAA”) governing domestic arbitration. The New Arbitration Regime will come into operation upon the publication of a notice in the…
On 19 October 2023, the ICC Young Arbitration & ADR Forum (YAAF) hosted a workshop titled “Navigating the Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence in Arbitration” in Zurich. The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) from a mere buzzword to a technological force has been remarkably swift. A recent study by Goldman Sachs reveals that, on average, 25%…
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador (“Court”) has recently analyzed the constitutionality of two International Agreements. On 28 July 2023, the Court declared unconstitutional the provision contained in chapter 15.20 of the Trade Association Agreement between Ecuador and Costa Rica (Decision No. 2-23-TI/23), among other reasons, because it incorporated an state-private party (investor) dispute resolution clause…
One of Germany’s most prestigious arbitration-related events, the “Petersberg Arbitration Days” (Petersberger Schiedstage) was held for the twentieth time on 23 and 24 February 2024. The organizers of the annual conference, the Beck Academy and the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) focused this year’s event on a difficult but contemporaneous topic: how international crises create additional…
The Indian Supreme Court in Cox & Kings Ltd. v. Sap India Pvt. Ltd. & Anr has ruled that non-signatories to an arbitration agreement can be considered parties to an arbitration under the ‘Group of Companies’ doctrine in India. The judgment has laid down the contours of this doctrine in the Indian context, and we…
In February 2024, a new arbitration centre was inaugurated in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre, known as arbitrateAD (“Centre”) launched as an independent and neutral forum for dispute resolution. Aligning with established domestic, regional, and global best practices, the Centre aims to position Abu Dhabi as a pivotal hub for international arbitration….
In the beginning of 2023, a diplomat told the Economist that the Middle East was tired of conflict and that de-escalation and diplomacy would be the orders of the day. While this did not hold true on the political side, it did hold true for the arbitration world. The MENA region witnessed the coming together…
Recent amendments to Federal Law No. 6 on 2018 on Arbitration, the UAE Federal Arbitration Law (“FAL”), introduced by Federal Decree Law No. 15 of 2023 (Amending Certain Provisions of Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 on Arbitration) (“Amendment Law”), give rise to concerns that in an endeavour to improve certain provisions of the FAL,…
In light of COP 28 UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai last year, the Prime Minister of Samoa and Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Honourable Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, observed: “Our islands are being pushed to the brink by the climate crisis and we need a strong plan of action for survival,…
On the 22nd of December 2023, an ICSID tribunal rendered its award in the case of Peteris Pildegovics and Sia North Star v. Kingdom of Norway. The case is of particular interest insofar as it focuses on the interaction among different branches of international law, namely investment law and the law of the sea. This…
The Regional Arbitral Institutes Forum (RAIF) held the 2023 edition of its annual conference on 10 November 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. RAIF consists of nine professional arbitration institutes across the Asia-Pacific region. It serves as both a platform to share knowledge and best practices, and an avenue for collaboration among members and delegates from the…
On 29 November 2023, speakers from various jurisdictions met at a conference at Heuking in Düsseldorf, organised by the European Chinese Arbitrators Association (ECAA) and the Asian European Arbitration Centre (ASEAC), to discuss whether we are currently experiencing “A New Dawn of Arbitration in Asia”. Professor Sundra Rajoo, Director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre,…
On 1 November 2023, the English High Court (“EWHC”) delivered its decision in Hulley Enterprises Limited v. Russian Federation. The EWHC dismissed the jurisdictional challenge raised by the Russian Federation (“RF”), which contested the enforcement of arbitral awards in favour of the former majority shareholders of OAO Yukos Oil Company (“Yukos”). Despite the RF asserting…
The review mechanism of sports arbitration in Switzerland is under scrutiny. After previous criticism from a human rights perspective, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”), in its recent International Skating Union (“ISU”) decision, found that the standard of review applied by the Swiss Federal Court (“SFC”) to mandatory arbitration awards by the…
On 12 February 2024, Israel achieved a significant milestone in the promotion of international commercial arbitration with the enactment of the International Commercial Arbitration Law, 2024 (the “ICA Law”). The ICA Law, which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration 1985, with amendments as adopted in 2006 (the “Model Law”), is…
In January 2023, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance in Grand Ocean & Williams Co Limited v. Huaxicun Offshore Engineering Co Ltd (江苏华西村海洋工程服务有限公司) [2023] HKCFI 86 (“Grand Ocean”) held that an arbitration clause, governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), was void and incapable of being performed on the basis…
On 8 September 2023, a tribunal comprising Prof. Ricardo Ramírez Hernández (President), Prof. John Gotanda and Prof. Philippe Sands issued its award in Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Ltd v. Bolivia (PCA Case No. 2016-39), a bilingual (English and Spanish) UNCITRAL arbitration under the UK-Bolivia bilateral investment treaty (the “Treaty”). A decision on interpretation and correction of…
One of the proposed changes to the English Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act”) introduced in the Arbitration Bill is an express power for tribunals to make an award on a summary basis in relation to any issue claim, or defence, if the tribunal considers that the party has no real prospect of succeeding on that…
On 23 October 2023, the English High Court handed down a landmark decision setting aside a USD 11 billion arbitral award (the final award) obtained by a British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) company, Process and Industrial Developments Limited (“P&ID”), against the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Judge upheld Nigeria’s challenge of the arbitral award on the…
