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…
In general terms, a couple of the known advantages of arbitration are: (i) normally it is faster than adjudication before national courts and, (ii) the arbitral award is final. Now, both of these perceived advantages are often tested by local courts and losing parties. Ecuadorian players are not the exception. In the case of Emelec…
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…
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…
As previously discussed, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Bosnian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Association ARBITRI organized in April 2016 two arbitration events in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina [“BiH”], with the aim to promote awareness of modern international practice and developments of law, and to encourage the reform of national laws, regulations…
On a reference from the Cour d’Appel de Paris, A.G. Wathelet upholds the primacy of an arbitral award as compatible with Art.101 TFEU in Genentech, Inc. v Hoechst GmbH / Sanofi-Aventis GmbH, Case C-567/14 (Opinion of Advocate General Wathelet: 17 March 2016). 1. The Facts 1.1 The Patent License In 1992 a predecessor of Hoechst/Sanofi-Aventis…
On March 30, ITA and ASIL co-hosted their annual meeting in Washington, DC, and this year’s theme was “A Spotlight on Ethics in International Arbitration: Advocates, Arbitrators and Awards.” One of the panels explored the question of where best to house authority for determining the ethical obligations of parties and their attorneys. I moderated the…
A foundational principle of international commercial arbitration is that of party autonomy. Article 19(1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law reflects this and states: “Subject to the provisions of this Law, the parties are free to agree on the procedure to be followed by the arbitral tribunal in conducting the proceedings.” Notwithstanding the parties’ broad freedom…
This post initiates a series of posts highlighting key cases published in ITA Arbitration Report, a monthly subscription service provided by the ITA Board of Reporters and available for free at KluwerArbitration.com. The three issues published during the 1st Quarter of 2016 contain more than 60 cases from different jurisdictions worldwide. The selection made for…
Introduction The Hague District Court ruled on 20 April 2016 to reverse a PCA tribunal’s decision against Russia to pay damages in excess of US$50 billion to the former majority shareholders of Yukos Oil Company, which was once the largest oil company in Russia (see earlier blog post on the Hague Court’s decision). The Hague…
The facts in Getma v. Guinea case seem familiar enough, but the facts leading to annulment of the award involve a wholly unexpected plot twist—a showdown between an African arbitral institution and the arbitral tribunal over the tribunal’s fees. When the annulment decision in Getma v. Guinea first came out, it received considerable attention, including…
The Hungarian arbitration Act (Act LXXI of 1994 on arbitration, “the Act”) has barely “turned 22” and the pressure to replace it with new legislation has popped up. Considering the current, rapid reform of effective laws in Hungary – meaning that relatively new legislation which has been in force for only five to ten years…
According to the 2015 report of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, India accounts for 5.1% of the world electricity generation and is the third largest generator of electricity in the world. A McKinsey report estimates the need to increase the generation capacity to about 440 GW by 2017 with an expected investment of…
The development of international arbitration in recent years has led to a significant multiplication of arbitration institutions around the world. In fact, every major city related to trade or industry has at least one dispute resolution centre. In addition to having long-standing, very reputable institutions for resolving commercial disputes, i.e. the ICC in Paris or…
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…
Recently the U.S. Executive Branch made headlines by agreeing with Venezuela. In particular, the Executive Branch filed an amicus curiae submission in New York federal appeals court in which it agreed with Venezuela regarding the treatment of ICSID awards in U.S. courts. According to the U.S. Executive (and Venezuela), a party seeking recognition of an…
Motei & Associates was instructed by the Respondent in recent legal proceedings between two parties (details for which must remain confidential) before the Dubai Courts in relation to the ratification of an arbitral award issued by the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). Appeal Court’s rationale An arbitrator is under an obligation to give the parties…
In a decision dated 16 March 2016 (4A_628/2015), the Swiss Supreme Court decided the long-open question of the consequence of a failure to comply with a mandatory pre-tier to arbitration, finding that such failure leads to the stay of the arbitration proceedings until the pre-arbitral tier has been conducted. The modalities of the stay (in…
The headline is there as a trap. The writer will argue that arbitration by women is not legal either. Legitimate, of course, but not legal in the strict sense, the senses of “[r]equired or appointed by law; founded on or deriving authority from law” or “[r]ecognized by law as distinguished from equity” or “[b]elonging to…
More or less since 2010, the topic of third party funding (“TPF”) in connection with international arbitration has been everywhere (heard of, seen in practice, written about, presented at conferences, and so on). In a series of recent developments however, TPF has been, for the first time, made subject to mandatory provisions contained in the…
In two recent cases, ICSID tribunals have been asked to consider applications for provisional measures relating to criminal proceedings initiated against the claimants. On 3 March 2016, the tribunal in Hydro S.r.l and others v. Republic of Albania (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/28) (the Hydro case) partly granted a request to recommend the suspension of criminal…
Queen Mary University of London & Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP Volume 33 (2016) Issue 2 contains: ARTICLES SECTION Nadia Darwazeh & Adrien Leleu, Disclosure and Security for Costs or How to Address Imbalances Created by Third-Party Funding Abstract: The growth of third-party funding (TPF) in international arbitrations seems to have intensified…
Co-authored with Michael McIlwrath, General Electric Company, and Ema Vidak-Gojkovic, Baker & McKenzie GAR Live Stockholm recently shone a spotlight on our article “Puppies or Kittens? How To Better Match Arbitrators to Party Expectations”, published in the Austrian Yearbook on International Arbitration earlier this year. In our article we proposed that arbitrators complete a questionnaire…
In a highly anticipated judgment which was handed down on 20 April 2016, The Hague District Court (the “Court”) set aside the $50 billion Yukos awards rendered against the Russian Federation in arbitration proceedings administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The Court, which was competent to hear Russia’s claim in the…
