Consent, Corruption, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Israel

(University of Alberta Faculty of Law)/

On 4 October 2013, an ICSID tribunal rendered its decision in the investment treaty dispute between the Israeli company Metal-Tech Ltd. and Uzbekistan. In the award, the tribunal found that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the parties’ claims and counterclaims brought under the Israel-Uzbekistan BIT and Uzbek law due to corruption related to Metal-Tech’s investment…

Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Due process, English Law, Set aside an arbitral award

(Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP)/ /Leave a comment

and Nikki O’Sullivan, Senior Associate at Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP In a recent decision of the English Commercial Court, Flaux J restated the general principle that the focus of an enquiry under Section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (“the Act”) is to ascertain whether due process has been observed in the making of an…

Corruption, International arbitration

(Investment Arbitration Reporter)/ /1 Comment

By Luke Eric Peterson There’s perennial discussion in the arbitration world as to the definition and legal implications of corruption in the context of international arbitration – including for example in a recent investment case involving Uzbekistan – but it’s less common to see discussions of corruption in the context of relations between arbitration lawyers…

Arbitration, Arbitration clause, Domestic Courts, Non-signatory, Third Party

(University of Alberta Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

In the recent decision of the Tel-Aviv District Court in S. Elia Holdings Ltd. and Arie Shasha v. Ron Itzhaky, the plaintiffs were effectively estopped from bringing claims against a non-signatory under a contract containing an arbitration clause. The plaintiffs in the case are a private Israeli company engaged in real-estate entrepreneurship (“Elia Holdings”) and…

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

London-based think-tank Chatham House is predicting an increase in the number of arbitrations between governments and companies in the extractive industries. Commercial stakes being particularly high in this sector, companies generally seek to resolve disputes with a host state through negotiation, viewing arbitration as the method of last resort. Yet Chatham House believes that there…

Costs, Domestic Courts, Set aside an arbitral award

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

By Justin D’Agostino and Yi-Shun Teoh In the latest instalment of Pacific China Holdings Ltd (in Liquidation) v Grand Pacific Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has confirmed that parties who unsuccessfully challenge arbitral awards will generally be ordered to pay costs on the indemnity basis. This is a relatively rare and…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Enforcement of an arbitration clause

(Asters)/ /Leave a comment

and Anna Tkachova, Asters Court practice shows that sometimes while considering applications on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards, Ukrainian courts apply Ukrainian legislation in an arbitrary manner. In this post we will analyze the legal grounds used by Ukrainian courts in consideration of an application seeking recognition and enforcement of an award issued…

Arbitration Agreements, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, kompetenz-kompetenz, Latin America

(Clyde & Co. LLP)/ /1 Comment
Clyde & Co.

The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”) has issued, on 19 June 2013, a landmark decision addressing the principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz (Resp. no. 1,278,852-MG Samarco Mineração S/A v Jerson Valadares da Cruz). The decision deals with the allocation of competence between arbitral tribunals and national courts to decide on the validity of an arbitration agreement….

BIT, Europe, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(Perréard de Boccard)/ /Leave a comment

Last year at about the same period, I reported on two major events that had been taking place in the world of Intra- and Extra-EU BITs, the Regulation establishing transitional arrangements for bilateral investments agreements between Member States and Third Countries, on the one hand, and the Electrabel decision, on the other. See blog of…

Arbitration, China

(Advocate, Arbitrator and Mediator)/ /2 Comments
Clyde & Co.

and Matthew Lam, Partner, Clyde & Co As announced recently on this blog Chinese Court Decision Summaries on Arbitration, edited by WunschARB, were recently published by Kluwer Arbitration. The case summaries are a welcome addition to the Kluwer Arbitration database, particularly given the paucity of caselaw analysis currently available in this area, and the editors’…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Belgium, Jurisdiction, Law governing the arbitration agreement

(Lexlitis, President CEPANI)/ /1 Comment

A judgment of the European Court of 17 October 2013 (C-184/12) honors gold plated provisions when considered mandatory. Member state courts are allowed to consider their national gold-plating (the practice of implementing rules tougher than the minimum required by the EU) as being of overriding mandatory character. Arbitration clause In 2005, Unamar, a Belgian commercial…

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(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /3 Comments
Herbert Smith Freehills

In a recent decision in the long-running Astro v. Lippo dispute,1)PT First Media TBK (formerly known as PT Broadband Multimedia TBK) v. Astro Nusantara International BV and others and another appeal (2013) SGCA 57. the Singapore Court of Appeal (the “Court“) grappled with the question of whether an unsuccessful party to an international arbitration award…

Arbitration, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor

(Ilyashev & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

The “contribution of assets” requirement of the Salini test was often overlooked by commentators and tribunals, probably due to its “I-know-it-when-I-see-it” nature. The recent award in KT Asia Investment Group B.V. v Republic of Kazakhstan, however, demonstrates that a failure to meet the contribution requirement may put to rest a claim of an offshore company…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules

(Schönherr)/ /Leave a comment

and Michael Nueber, Schönherr Introduction A new version of the so-called “Vienna Rules” came into force on 1 July 2013. Due to practitioners’ broad acceptance of the Vienna Rules 2006, changes were made only with regard to specific matters. The major focus of the amendments lies on expediting the arbitration proceedings and addressing cost-related issues….

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(Philip W. Engle, Attorney at Law - Solicitor - Arbitrator)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The objective of this post is to help in-house and outside counsel communicate better with each other when addressing the topic of international commercial arbitration. While both may be (highly) conversant on the topic, the perspectives of each are potentially very divergent and true communication between them may be incomplete and ineffective. My desire here…

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(Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP)/ /Leave a comment

This article argues for the inclusion of synopses in arbitral awards, particularly ICSID awards which tend to be widely publicized and often exceed 100 pages in length, and in some cases, 300 pages. As international investment disputes continue to “mushroom” (UNCTAD, 2012), it is important for the arbitration community to think of ways to maximize…

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(Loyola University Chicago School of Law)/ /1 Comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The new Recast Brussels I Regulation, which governs the jurisdiction of courts and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in the Member States of the European Union, has taken the strong position that arbitration will continue to be excluded from its coverage. The Recast Regulation will begin to apply to Member States in January 2015,…

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(Linklaters)/ /1 Comment
Linklaters

and Pol Thielen, Managing Associate, Litigation, Linklaters LLP, Luxembourg Luxembourg is home to many international holding companies and special purpose vehicles. As a consequence, when disputes between shareholders or power struggles within the management arise, the resulting proceedings usually takes place at the level of the Luxembourg entity. One of the weapons of choice in…

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/ /2 Comments

Imagine you are an arbitrator being asked to decide on the validity of a flawed international arbitration agreement. The parties have spent great time and effort negotiating and finally agreeing on the arbitration agreement in question. The parties’ representatives engaged in marathon negotiation sessions. The representatives exchanged correspondence throughout the negotiation. They also preserved each…

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(Kluwer Law International)/ /Leave a comment

For those who may have missed earlier announcements, I’m delighted to inform you of a new content set – Chinese Court Decision Summaries on Arbitration – we added to Kluwer Arbitration in September. Edited by WunschARB, the cases launched last month with 126 summaries of cases concerning enforcement of arbitral awards. Another 139 summaries have…

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

I have written previously[1] about the preemptive effect of Section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), which provides: A written provision in any maritime transaction or a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle by arbitration a controversy thereafter arising out of such contract or transaction, or the refusal to perform the whole…

Arbitration, Latin America

(Florida International University College of Law)/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

One of the most important legal developments in Latin America during the last few decades has been the expansion in the protection of fundamental rights. This has occurred not only with regard to the express recognition of new substantive rights into several national legal systems, but also regarding the creation of procedural remedies geared to…

Anti-arbitration, Arbitral seat, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Hong Kong, International Courts, Singapore International Arbitration Centre, Uncategorized

(MDisputes)/ /Leave a comment

This morning, a colleague in Asia forwarded me an article with news of the latest efforts by Singapore to establish itself as a preferred location for international dispute resolution: an ambitious initiative by the country’s Law Ministry to make Singapore a regional destination for international commercial mediation, and plans to create a Singapore International Commercial…

Fair and Equitable Treatment, NAFTA, Permanent Court of Arbitration

(University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section)/ /Leave a comment

Last week the hearing on jurisdiction and liability in an arbitration between Bilcon of Delaware et al. and the Government of Canada was streamed live on the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (‘PCA’). One of the most disputed issues between the parties in this case is the meaning and the scope of the…