and Brenda Horrigan and Rebecca Soquier, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Shanghai The sanctions arising out of the Ukrainian crisis have led commercial entities to consider their options for resolving current or potential disputes. In this post, we consider the impact of the sanctions against Russia on the future of dispute resolution for Russian entities and…
Introduction The Government of India recently released the Draft Indian Model BIT (“Draft BIT”) for public consultation. India has an extensive BIT network with over 72 BITs in force. In 2012, following the investment treaty award against India in White Industries award, the Government initiated a comprehensive effort to revise the Model Indian BIT (“Old…
In connection with the upcoming 2015 ITA Workshop in Dallas on June 17-19, we are now conducting a survey on the experiences of arbitration practitioners with enforceability of arbitral awards. We write to invite your participation. As you may recall, last year we launched the 2014 ITA Survey on the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, and…
The nation states of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have long been active participants in the world of international investment protection and arbitration. Pakistan was a signatory to one of the first ever Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)1)BIT between Pakistan and Germany dated 25 November 1959. and of the estimated 2,750 BITs that exist today,…
In Mobil Cerro Negro, Ltd., et al v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a New York federal district court rejected Venezuela’s sovereign immunity challenge and upheld use of an ex parte procedure available under New York law to convert an ICSID award into a U.S. court judgment. The decision highlights the delocalized nature of ICSID awards…
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 law firm. This year, Wendy Miles delivered the keynote speech at the YAF/YAPP Annual Conference on the second day of the Vis Moot. Attuned to the audience, the…
‘By putting its head in the sand, the ostrich can see no problems, and if it can’t see any problems, they don’t exist”[1] To what extent can legal systems differ? Can these differences be legitimate enough to collapse a “conflictive” legal system? These two ambitious questions are difficult to be answered in one go, and…
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is pleased to host a launch for a new book by Despina Mavromati & Matthieu Reeb, “The Code of the Court of Arbitration for Sport: Commentary, Cases and Materials”. The book comprehensively analyses the rules of the CAS Code within the more general context of international arbitration. Each…
In recent years, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market has shown steady signs of recovery from the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. According to a survey of over 735 M&A professionals recently conducted by KPMG, 82% of survey participants said they were planning acquisitions in 2015. Respondents cited large cash reserves, opportunities in emerging…
by Anya George, Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd for YSIAC An arbitrator who decides a case by reference to general notions of fairness and equity, rather than in accordance with a strict application of legal rules, is generally referred to as an amiable compositeur or as deciding ex aequo et bono (even though these notions are…
As contracts containing Dispute Adjudication Boards (“DAB’s”) as a mandatory prerequisite to arbitration are on the increase (and being recognised as such by many legal systems) what issues are there around enforcing the establishment of such a Board? There is always, especially when a contentious situation has arisen, a party more reluctant to engage in…
We are pleased to announce the 30th Anniversary of the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London. To commemorate its anniversary, the School of International Arbitration will be presenting in London a Celebration Conference on the “The Evolution and Future of International Arbitration: The Next 30 Years”. Kluwer Arbitration Blog will be live…
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…
The recent annulment decision in Tza Yap Shum v. Peru (ICSID Case No. ARB/07/6) has brought back the discussion regarding the ‘pure’ adversarial nature of investor-state arbitration system. Mr. Shum, a Chinese investor claimed indirect expropriation under the Agreement on Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (APPRI) between the Governments of Peru and China arising…
In recent years, arbitration institutions have made significant progress by adopting the provisions on emergency arbitrators (“EA”). One of the biggest appeals of the new mechanism is that it allows parties to obtain interim relief before a case is referred to the arbitral tribunal. The main purpose of EA is to protect assets and evidence…
The Dubai Court of Cassation stays firmly on course in its enforcement of foreign arbitration awards under the 1958 New York Convention for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (NYC) and hence keeps consolidating its pro-NYC enforcement practice. This has most recently been demonstrated by the Court’s pro-Convention approach in Case No. 434/2014…
and Rute Alves, PLMJ Sociedade de Advogados 1. Legal and practical background Pursuant to Article 17(3) of the Portuguese Voluntary Arbitration Law (Law no. 63/2011 of 14 December – hereinafter “LAV”), any party may request the competent state court to reduce the amount of the fees fixed by the arbitrators if they were not agreed…
On 12 March 2015, substantial amendments were introduced to the Egyptian Investment Law no. 8/1997 (Investment Law). The amendments generally aim at attracting new investments to Egypt through offering further incentives and guarantees, removing obstacles, and streamlining the procedure. Incentives include, for example, trimming sales tax to 5% from as high as 10%, and setting…
In the Dubai Court of Cassation Case No. 434/2014 (Al Reyami Group LLC v. BTI Befestigungstechnik GmbH & Co KG) judgment issued on 23 November 2014, the Dubai Court of Cassation confirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision and, inter alia, granted recognition of a foreign arbitral award pursuant to the provisions of the 1958 New York…
Most institutional rules share a common procedural framework for arbitral proceedings—the origins of which are traceable to the first set of ICC Rules in 1922. This skeletal framework broadly describes the lifecycle of the arbitration, and provides for the order of pleadings, constitution of a tribunal, conduct of proceedings, and making of the award, in…
If the Canada-China BIT is any guide, then the US-China BIT may prove to be profoundly state-friendly. Unlike Canada’s 2004 model investment agreement and the investment chapter of the 2014 Canada-European Union Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement (CETA), the Canada-China BIT offers only negligible establishment-phase protections and lacks disciplines on state-owned enterprises. With such provisions,…
The Main Approaches Regarding Enforcement of Annulled Foreign Awards The ongoing issue of whether an award that was set aside in the country of origin should be enforced has recently arisen in England and Wales. This issue has divided jurisdictions in two camps: the first camp is comprised of jurisdictions that are ready to enforce…
Negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have highlighted the growing debate over investment arbitration. Last week the New York Times published an article summarizing objections to the TPP investment chapter. The article notes that politicians, law professors and liberal activists “have expressed fears the provisions would infringe…
Notwithstanding 2014’s political and constitutional upheavals, arbitration in Hong Kong has continued its successful trajectory as a popular and well-regarded means of alternative dispute resolution. Recent Hong Kong court decisions and developments at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) reinforce the pro-arbitration attitude of the courts and HKIAC’s position as a world-class arbitral institution….
