Anti-arbitration, Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration, Brazil, Domestic Courts, Interim Orders, Jurisdiction

(BMA Advogados) and (BMA - Barbosa, Müssnich & Aragão Advogados)/ /Leave a comment

Do international arbitrators have the power to overturn interim measures granted by a Brazilian court? Do Brazilian courts have the power to stay international arbitrations? A recent decision rendered in the Petroplus Sul Comércio Exterior S.A. (“Petroplus”) et al. v. First Brands do Brasil Ltda. et al. (“First Brands”) dispute has just provided its answer…

Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Proceedings, India, Seat of the arbitration

(National Law School of India University, Bangalore)/ /Leave a comment

A few days ago, this blog published an outsider’s perspective on the decision of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) in Reliance v Union of India (Reliance v Union of India, Civ App No. 5675 of 2014 (Supreme Court of India)) which has been applauded by international practitioners around the world since it curbed the…

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(Lexlitis) and (DMDB Law)/ /Leave a comment

The advance on costs at the outset of the arbitration ensures that arbitrators are covered for the fees and expenses made upon rendering their final award. It is common practice both in institutional and ad hoc arbitration that the procedure will only continue – or even start – upon payment in full of the advance…

Applicable Law, Arbitration Agreements, Germany, Group of Companies Doctrine

(Linklaters LLP)/ /1 Comment

A recent decision of the German Federal Supreme Court dated 8 May 2014 (case reference no. III ZR 371/12) again calls for a debate on the binding effect of an arbitration agreement for a non-signatory – a well-known and highly-debated phenomenon since the Dow Chemical arbitration. The Dow Chemical case According to the award rendered…

England, English Law, Freezing Orders, Interim Orders, Ukraine

(CAI & Lenard )/ /Leave a comment

I. General Aspects of Enforceability English Worldwide Freezing Order (“WFO”) being called by Matthias Scherer and Simone Nadelhofer one of the “nuclear weapons” of commercial litigation and arbitration, is a preliminary injunction preventing a defendant from disposing of assets pending the resolution of the underlying substantive (arbitration or court) proceedings. Its issue in support of…

German Federal Supreme Court, Germany, Ordre Public, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Set aside an arbitral award

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

In an order dated 28 January 2014 (file number III ZB 40/13), the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, the “Court”) clarified that an arbitral award can only be set aside in recognition or enforcement proceedings by a state court in “extremely exceptional cases”, i.e. if an award breaches the fundamental principles of the German legal…

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(MDisputes)/ /1 Comment

Arbitration service providers often seem to handle parties, especially in-house counsel, with gentle kid gloves. A good example is any “roundtable of in-house counsel”, which is now as common at arbitration conferences as children’s tables are at weddings. Just like at weddings, the adults occasionally wander over to check on things and ask, “did you…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrator Challenges, Arbitrators

(BCH Advogados)/ /3 Comments

In his President’s Message (ASA Bulletin, Vol. 32, no. 2, 2014), Elliott Geisinger proposes a real challenge to the arbitration community. In a simple but rather persuasive rhetorical style, Geisinger places in confrontation Me. Paul Philibert Confus, Avocat à la Cour and Sir Reginald Muddle, QC, giving life to a debate that seems to be…

ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Convention, Investment, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Investor, Latin America

(Pinheiro Neto Advogados)/ /Leave a comment

Investment arbitration is a crucial and sensitive dispute-resolution method, notably because the treatment given to foreign investment matters may materially affect the economic and social realities of a country or region, particularly those in development. In the last decade, however, as already reported and addressed in this blog by, among many others, Vanessa Giraud and…

Arbitral Award, Enforcement, Mareva Injunction

(Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP)/ /1 Comment

By Henri Alvarez and Alexandra Mitretodis, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP In Sociedade-de-fomento Industrial Private Limited v. Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation, decided on June 2, 2014, the Court of Appeal of British Columbia set the test in international arbitration for enforcing foreign arbitral awards by freezing assets. The decision confirms that a party with limited association…

Arbitration Proceedings, ICC Arbitration, Management

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ArbitralWomen

The worldwide launch of the Guide for In-House Counsel and Other Party Representatives on Effective Management of Arbitration Guide took place on 6 June 2014 in Paris. The Guide provides a checklist for the procedural decisions that need to be made at each principal phase of an arbitration. Useful in both large and small cases,…

Arbitration Agreements, Domestic law, English Law, India, Jurisdiction

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

The potential intervention of Indian courts over foreign seated arbitrations is a hot topic in international arbitration. On 28 May 2014, the Supreme Court of India (“SCI”) heated up the debate by handing down a judgment in Reliance Industries Limited & Anr v Union of India. The SCI found that Indian courts had no jurisdiction…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, DIFC, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, International arbitration

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent, worldwide yet unprecedented move, the DIFC Courts have circulated for public consultation a draft Practice Direction (see Practice Direction No. X of 2014 amending Practice Direction No. 2 of 2012 DIFC Courts’ Jurisdiction, electronically accessible on the official website of the DIFC Courts at www.difccourts.ae), which essentially aims to provide for the…

Anti-arbitration, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Expedited arbitration, International arbitration, Uncategorized

(MDisputes)/ /4 Comments

In a case my business had a few years ago, the parties’ contract specified expedited procedures under the AAA’s Commercial Arbitration Rules. Immediately after the request for arbitration had been filed, the case manager of the ICDR, the AAA’s international branch, sent the parties a letter to warn us about this.(1) She pointed out that…

China, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, ICC Arbitration

(AnJie Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

and Li Meng, AnJie Law Firm Whether foreign arbitration institutions could conduct arbitration in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) is a question that many industry insiders are curious about. Back in 2006, when the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court (“Wuxi Court”) refused to recognize and enforce an arbitral award issued by the ICC Court of…

Arbitral Award, Arbitration Act, New York Convention

(Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP)/ /Leave a comment
YIAG

The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) is given effect in England and Wales through sections 100 to 103 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the “1996 Act”). As is well known, the beneficiary of an award promulgated by an arbitral tribunal in a state-party to the New…

ICSID Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Latin America

(González-Bueno & Asociados)/ /Leave a comment

By Carlos González–Bueno and Laura Lozano, González-Bueno & Asociados, Madrid. It is commonly understood that Latin American countries have played an important dominant role as respondents in ICSID cases. This has led to the withdrawal from the ICSID Convention by several Latin American countries. Interestingly, however, according to recent ICSID statistics, cases filed against Latin…

Mediation, New York Convention, UN and Int’l Organizations, Uncategorized

(MDisputes)/ /Leave a comment

UNCITRAL’s Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation) will begin its 47th session today, July 7 , in New York. Among the items to be discussed is a proposal for a multilateral convention on the enforceability of international commercial settlement agreements reached through mediation. (See also this link.) The proposal, which has been put forth by…

Arbitrator Challenges, Bias, ICSID Arbitration, ICSID Convention

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

The ICSID Convention threshold for arbitrators’ challenges, upholding challenges only if arbitrators exhibit a manifest lack of the qualities required to sit as arbitrators (Art. 57 ICSID Convention), has in the past been criticized as being too strict. Recently, however, few decisions, discussed in this post, seem to show that the ICSID “manifest” threshold is…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, China, CIETAC

(Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

By Jelita Pandjaitan and Justin Tang The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (the “FTZ”) was launched in September 2013 with promises of relaxed controls in key areas such as foreign exchange and foreign investment. In the subsequent nine months, a raft of initiatives have included the liberalisation of offshore RMB financing and other cross-border…

Arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

(University of Miami School of Law International Arbitration Institute)/ /2 Comments

for Young Arbitrators Forum (YAP) In 2000, only five Latin American countries had enacted the Model Law, and perhaps even worse, roughly a fifth of Latin American countries had still not acceded to the New York Convention. Today, the Model Law is in force in roughly half of all Latin American countries1)The 1985 Model Law…

Arbitral Award, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, BIT, Enforcement, India, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

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and Sapna Jhangiani, Clyde & Co. and Joseph P. Matthews J.D., University of Miami School of Law for Young Arbitration Practitioners It has been some time since the White Industries Australia Limited v Republic of India judgment was rendered against India in 2011. However, there remain several interesting aspects of the case still not widely…

Arbitration Awards, Australia, Enforcement

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

Armada (Singapore) Pte Ltd (Under Judicial Management) v Gujarat NRE Coke Limited [2014] FCA 636 Justice Foster of the Federal Court of Australia handed down judgment on 17 June 2014 in an application for the enforcement of three foreign arbitral awards. The key issue for determination before the court was whether the applicant, Armada (Singapore)…