Our interest on this topic has been provoked by a reading of the Repsol v. Petroecuador Stay Orders (See ICSID Case No. ARB/01/10, Procedural Order No. 1 (Unofficial translation), 22 December 2005; Procedural Order No. 4 Termination of Stay (Unofficial translation), 22 February 2006) in the context of a research on conditional stay of enforcement…
On 16 May 2012, the Court of Appeal of England & Wales (“CA”) dismissed an appeal against an anti-suit injunction restraining three insured entities from pursuing proceedings in the Brazilian courts against their insurers (Sulamerica CIA Nacional De Seguros SA v Enesa Engenharia SA [2012] EWCA Civ 638). This is the latest in a series…
As Rusty Park remarked, “[I]n real estate the three key elements are ‘location, location, location,’ … in arbitration the applicable trinity is ‘arbitrator, arbitrator, arbitrator.”’ Empirical studies consistently verify that parties’ ability to select arbitrators is one of the primary reasons they select arbitration as a means of dispute resolution. Parties also consistently vote with…
The saga with Yukos Oil and its nationalization – and the effects on its various related entities – has been ongoing for quite some time. As reported in the news of late (see e.g. Business Wire.com and Cisarbitration.com), in late July an arbitral award was rendered under the auspices of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce….
and Sam Moss, Lalive In its recent decision dated 2 July 2012 in case 5A_754/2011, the Swiss Supreme Court ruled for the first time on the issue of whether, pursuant to Art. IV(2) of the New York Convention (“NYC”), a full translation of an award must be produced by parties seeking recognition and enforcement in…
LONDON OLYMPICS, August 1, 2012 — Badminton officials took the extraordinary step today of tossing out four teams for deliberately trying to lose their preliminary matches. The eight disciplined players were found to have conducted themselves “in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.” Imagine immediate (and less severe) consequences for…
In recent years, Canada has an enjoyed a reputation as an arbitration-friendly country. This is due to a number of factors, including the incorporation or adaptation of the Model Law into the arbitration legislation at the provincial and federal level, a sophisticated arbitration community well versed in both the common and civil law traditions, and,…
In a recent blog post, Gary Born highlighted the current role of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in administering state-to-state arbitrations. Given that the PCA has recently released its Annual Report for 2011, I thought I’d complement Gary’s post with some further information about the PCA’s role in administering investor-to-state arbitrations. It’s useful to set…
On 17 July 2012, the Privy Council (UKPC 27) passed a landmark judgment of relevance for creditors of States seeking to enforce against the assets of State-owned corporations. The Privy Council held that only in ‘quite extreme circumstances’ would a State-owned corporation (a separate juridical entity formed by the State for commercial or industrial purposes)…
International award creditors can now look with some measure of optimism to enforcing their awards against Middle Eastern stakeholders in the UAE. This is so following a recent spate of judgments of the UAE courts that have confirmed enforcement of foreign awards under the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign…
With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009, control of foreign direct investment became an exclusive area of EU competence, or such is the view of the European Commission, a view which is not shared by all EU member States. Since that time, the Commission has embarked upon what it…
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) has played key role in the resolution of international disputes for well over a hundred years now. Over the past decade, however, the PCA’s importance and activities have significantly increased. Thirty-five investor-state arbitrations under bilateral or multilateral investment treaties or investment laws are currently pending at the PCA, in…
On September 10, 2012, The International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) in New York will be hosting the seventh annual conference. Located in New York City, the ICC Conference will be looking at investor-state arbitration, specifically under the rules of the ICC. The ICC has been working hard to build up its profile in the international…
The situation of a truncated arbitral tribunal may be caused by various factors. It may arise when a three-member tribunal during the course of the arbitral proceedings and before the rendering of the award does not remain the same at some point, meaning that one of the members of the tribunal dies, resigns or fails…
Here are some recent issues colleagues or acquaintences tell me they are facing with international arbitration, without (or with slightly altered) information that might identify a particular proceeding or party. My own comments follow each. I invite readers to amplify with their own views on how to handle these situations, or compare with issues they…
By Martin Hunter and Javier García Olmedo In a previous blog we discussed the concept of plain packaging of tobacco products and the pending investment arbitration claims brought by Philip Morris International (PMI) against Uruguay and Australia. The question raised was whether these anti-tobacco schemes contravene the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights…
Ana Carolina Beneti Ricardo Dalmaso Marques (a) Introduction 1. The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”) was called, in September 2010, to decide on a compelling matter: the possibility (or not) of recognizing and enforcing a foreign award rendered devoid of grounds and whether this decision would violate public policy if it produced effects in…
As in most other jurisdictions, the violation of public policy in the UAE constitutes a ground for refusing the recognition of an arbitral award. Public policy is defined in Article 3 of the UAE Civil Code [Federal Law No. (5) of 1985] as follows: “Are considered of Public Policy, rules relating to personal status such…
On 13 January 2011, the Belgian Supreme Court (Cour de cassation/Hof van cassatie) ruled that an arbitral award could be set aside by a Belgian judge on the basis of a contradiction in the award’s motivation. In so ruling, the Belgian Supreme Court took a view opposite to that of the French Supreme Court (Cour…
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which sits in Atlanta, waded into the debate concerning whether 28 U.S.C. § 1782 — which provides U.S. district courts with the power to order parties to give testimony or produce documents “for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal” —…
On June 25th, 2012 the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which covers all federal appeals emanating from the states of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, decided that a private commercial arbitration tribunal in Ecuador used by the parties to resolve a commercial dispute is a ‘tribunal’ for purposes of the collection of…
Roschier’s recent market survey of corporate users in the Nordic region indicates that users perceive the dispute resolution climate as tougher than before, although no major or dramatic changes have taken place since 2010. We launched the second edition of the Roschier Disputes Index at the Roschier Arbitration Forum in Stockholm on 28 May 2012,…
Confidentiality is often a distinguishing reason why users choose arbitration over court litigation. In a 2010 International Arbitration Survey on Choices in International Arbitration, 62% of respondents said confidentiality was very important to them. Last month, a contributor to this blog observed anecdotally that in-house counsel want confidentiality especially in industries in which a dispute…
One of the oft quoted advantages of arbitration is the perceived certainty that the national courts of New York Convention states should enforce an arbitral award unless one of the limited grounds for refusal is met. However, the relationship between national courts and arbitration is far from straightforward. In particular, one notable area where there…
