Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Investment Arbitration, Multiple parties, SCC Rules, Security for Costs

(Climate Change Counsel)/ /Leave a comment

As part of its centenary celebrations in January 2017, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (“SCC”) will be launching updated rules. Drafts of the revised SCC Arbitration Rules and Rules for Expedited Arbitrations are now available on the SCC website. A public hearing was held in Stockholm on June 9 to discuss the…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Clause Incorporated by Reference, Sport arbitration

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

Claudia Pechstein, 44, is a well-known speed skater – she has won 60 medals at international championships and at the Olympics since 1992. However, the media coverage on her seven year juridical battle against a two year suspension imposed on her for a disputed doping rules violation has put her into the spotlight even more…

Admissibility, Investment Arbitration, Jurisdiction

(NL-Investmentconsulting)/ /2 Comments

The recently published Philipp Morris v Australia award concerning Australia’s plain packaging of cigarettes legislation contains important indications regarding the conditions for the timely structuring of investments in order to be able to initiate investment arbitration proceedings. Background of the case Philip Morris International (PMI), a company incorporated in New York, produces cigarettes and owns…

Annulment, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Switzerland, Uncategorized

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /Leave a comment

Switzerland is a global hub for commodity traders, and therefore also a significant jurisdiction for disputes arising in the commodities sector. A recent decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court (Decision 5A_441/2015 of 4 February 2016 (ASA Bull. 2/2016)) addresses important issues relating to commodity sales contracts and Swiss enforcement proceedings. The case involved arbitral proceedings…

ICC Rules, Partial award, Preliminary Ruling, Procedure

(Schoenherr) and / /2 Comments
Schoenherr

Time and cost efficiency is the most commonly praised argument in favor of arbitration as opposed to state court litigation. The exchanges within the arbitral community as regards strategies to streamline arbitral proceedings in an effort to increase their efficiency are abundant. The issue, quite apparently, ranks high on the hot topic lists of counsel…

Arbitration Act, Asia, China, National Arbitration Laws, Shanghai

, (Zhong Lun)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction As noted this firm’s previous post on the Chaolaixinsheng case (see Cao Lijun & Lu Leilei, To Be or Not to Be? The Practical Implications of Choosing Foreign Arbitration for Domestic Contracts, 6 March 2015), the Supreme People’s Court of China (the SPC) expressly ruled that foreign arbitral awards made in relation to purely…

DIFC, Dubai, Enforcement, Middle East, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

On 15 May 2016, the UAE Ministry of Justice and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts, the courts of the newly established common law free zone carved out of the heart of Abu Dhabi (see my previous reporting here), entered into a Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation in legal and judicial matters with immediate…

Annulment, Arbitral Award, Ecuador, Uncategorized

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Following up on a recent post by Daniela Palacios on 24 May 2016 titled “Emelec vs Canal Uno: How Many Bites Can the Apple Handle?”, this article explores: (i) Ecuadorian courts’ historic approach to the availability of cassation (recurso de casación) against decisions that resolve annulment proceedings of arbitral awards, (ii) the change of approach…

ASEAN, Asia, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Trans-Pacific Partnership

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

The Asian economy is considered an engine of global economic growth, accounting for almost two-thirds of forecasted global economic growth for 2016.1)“Asia: Growth Remains Strong, Expected to Ease Only Modesty”, International Monetary Fund Survey Magazine, 3 May 2016, https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2016/CAR050316B.htm. Over the last decade, the flows of foreign investment into and out of Asia have consistently…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, DIFC, Domestic Courts, Dubai, Enforcement, Middle East

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

According to a recent announcement (see the official DIAC website at https://www.dubaichamber.com/en/news/dubai-international-arbitration-centre-opens-an-office-in-difc), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, widely known by its acronym as the “DIAC”, is set to open a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre, in shorthand the “DIFC”. This anticipated move is no doubt a promotional exercise to address concerns that the…

Due process, England, English Law

(Hughes Hubbard LLP)/ /2 Comments

A few months ago, Queen Mary University of London and White & Case released their third International Arbitration Survey entitled “Improvements and Innovations in International Arbitration”.  One of the many interesting findings of this survey is the apparent growing concern of some users of arbitration with what can be termed “due process paranoia”. Due process…

DIFC, Maritime Arbitration, Middle East

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

On 18 April 2016, following earlier anticipation (see my blog here), the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre, in shorthand “EMAC”, was finally established by virtue of a decree issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai (see Decree No. 14 of 2016 establishing the Emirates Centre…

Dual Nationals, Investment Arbitration, Investor, ITA

(Covington and Burling LLP)/ /Leave a comment

YAI TALKS#, a new conversation series launched by the ITA Young Arbitrators Initiative (YAI) under the leadership of YAI chair Montserrat Manzano (Von Wobeser y Sierra, Mexico City) and vice chair Silvia Marchili (King & Spalding, Houston), kicked off on May 12 in Washington, D.C., with a debate on claims by dual nationals against countries…

Women in arbitration

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ArbitralWomen

By Mirèze Philippe, Special Counsel at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and Founding Co-President ArbitralWomen The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and should not be regarded as representative of, or binding upon ArbitralWomen and/or the author’s institution. The launch of the Equal Representation in Arbitration…

ADR, Mediation

(Pepperdine University School of Law)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The mounting global preoccupation with mediation, reflected in a growing array of institutions, programs, laws and regulations; an international “evangelical” movement; and mounting impetus for an international convention promoting the recognition and enforcement of mediated settlement agreements; should be accompanied by collective reflection, dialogue and discernment regarding present trends. These were the themes of my…

Arbitration Awards, New York Convention, Uncategorized

(University College Cork)/ /1 Comment

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…

Argentina, Commercial Arbitration, Latin America, Willem C. Vis Moot

(Permanent Court of Arbitration) and (Knoetzl Haugeneder Netal Rechtsanwaelte GmbH)/ /Leave a comment

“And the winner is Buenos Aires” said Alice Fremuth-Wolf, deputy Secretary General of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre and presiding arbitrator of the final round, in the afternoon of 24 March 2016. This was the moment that a group of coaches, students and former students of the University of Buenos Aires (“UBA”) had long worked–and…

Appeal, English Arbitration Act, Uncategorized

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Enyo Law

A few months ago a piece was published on the Kluwer blog on s. 69 of the English Arbitration Act, a provision which gives a party to an English-seated arbitration a limited right of appeal on a point of law (absent an agreement to the contrary with its contractual counterparty).  Based on a review of…

Appeal, Appellate Body, ISDS, Latin America, South America, Treaty

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

Latin America is the region that has faced the largest number of investment treaty arbitration cases in the world, holding 30% of the total ICSID caseload (549 cases as of December 31, 2015).  South America alone, comprised by twelve UNASUR members, has faced 131 ICSID cases with a number of adverse outcomes for the host…

Law of the Sea, Permanent Court of Arbitration, State-to-state arbitration, Transparency, UN and Int’l Organizations, UNCLOS

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

On 26 June 2015 Italy commenced inter-state arbitral proceedings by serving on India a notification of dispute under Article 287 and Annex VII, Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”); both States are Parties to UNCLOS. In Italy’s submission the dispute concerns an incident approximately 20.5 nautical miles…

Interpretation of Contracts, Singapore, Singapore Court of Appeal

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /7 Comments
YSIAC

In a series of cases since 2008, the Singapore Court of Appeal (Singapore’s highest court) has been articulating the contours of a contextual approach to contractual interpretation. Under this contextual approach, the Singapore courts “must ascertain, based on all the relevant objective evidence, the intention of the parties at the time they entered into the…

Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Dispute Resolution, ISDS

(University of Cologne, Center for Transnational Law (CENTRAL)) and (WilmerHale)/ /Leave a comment

When questioned what the users of arbitration expect from the process and what its main pitfalls are, the answer is usually unequivocal: the need for time and cost-efficient proceedings leading to a well-considered decision is not consistently met. The reason for this complaint is obvious: the ‘Golden Age’ of arbitration has made way for a…

Arbitration clause, Hong Kong

, , (Baker & McKenzie)/ /Leave a comment
HK45

Parties entering into related contracts should carefully consider how future disputes ought to be resolved. This post will look at a recent Hong Kong decision in Bluegold Investment Holdings Limited v Kwan Chun Fun Calvin [2016] HKEC 532 (“Bluegold Case”) involving the construction of inconsistent dispute resolution clauses in related contracts. We will also discuss how…