On November 16, 2023, during the 5th annual New York Arbitration Week, DLA Piper hosted a double feature event focused on the effective management of risks and disputes in the context of M&A transactions. The first portion of the event featured a fireside chat with Jonathan Olefson (General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Syneos Health)…
On 15 September 2023, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) reformed the legal framework governing arbitration. Under the recently issued Federal Law No. (15) of 2023 (“Amendment Law”), specific amendments have been introduced to key articles of the Federal Arbitration Law No. (6) of 2018 (“UAE Arbitration Law”), a legislation comprising of 61 articles which stands…
Ecuador distanced itself from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) system more than a decade ago. During this period, Ecuador withdrew from all its bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) and the 1966 Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (“ICSID Convention” or “Convention”). In August 2021,…
Introduction On September 1, 2023, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress promulgated the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) Foreign State Immunity Law (“CFSIL”, bilingual version here). It will enter into force on January 1, 2024, together with the amended Chinese Civil Procedure Law 2023 (“CPL 2023”, English translation here). The new legislation not…
Muddled in severe stress and conflict since the 1950s, the transboundary Indus basin is home to one of the longest rivers in Asia. Barraging disputes led to the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 (“IWT”) between Pakistan and India. Oft-cited as one of the most successful transboundary water-sharing mechanisms in the world, the…
In the case of Santamarta v Venezuela, the dispute involved a dual national of Venezuela and Spain, who filed a claim against Venezuela for allegedly obstructing Santamarta’s pharmaceutical business, including an unlawful confiscation of a manufacturing plant. The arbitration proceedings were conducted in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules (1976) on the basis of the…
There is a debate about whether courts and arbitral tribunals should be involved in the amicable resolution of disputes. Different jurisdictions deal with this issue in different ways. This post considers the approaches taken by courts and tribunals in Germany, England and Wales, and Singapore to examine whether courts or tribunals in these jurisdictions, on…
In April 2023, Libya took a significant step forward in developing its legal system by issuing Law No 10 of 2023 on Commercial Arbitration (“New Arbitration Law”). The New Arbitration Law establishes a comprehensive legal framework for commercial arbitration in Libya, taking inspiration from the UNCITRAL Model Law and arbitration laws in neighbouring countries. Until…
The second updated edition of the “Report on compliance with investment treaty awards by States” (the ‘Report’) has been recently released by the present author (see for coverage of the 2022 version of the report here). In light of the termination of intra-EU international investment agreements (IIAs), the failure to approve the modernized Energy Charter…
‘What makes a good arbitrator?’ asks Christopher Vajda KC in his Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Keynote address which we are delighted to publish at this issue. It is not a straight-forward question to answer. Practicing as an arbitrator does not necessarily make someone a good arbitrator, even if their practice is busy. Drawing on his…
When the USMCA entered into force on 1 July 2020, the general view was that the agreement would limit the ability of investors to file investment arbitration claims because the new rules offered limited access to the ISDS mechanism compared with NAFTA. Furthermore, investors from Canada and the U.S. face an additional restriction as ISDS…
The Institute of Transnational Arbitration (ITA), in collaboration with the ITA Board of Reporters, is happy to inform you that the latest ITA Arbitration Report was published: a free email subscription service available at KluwerArbitration.com delivering timely reports on awards, cases, legislation and current developments from over 60 countries and 12 institutions. To get your free subscription to the ITA…
A recent ruling by the Chilean Supreme Court has clarified the extent of control that Chilean tribunals can exert when reviewing the procedural rules applied in arbitration awards seeking recognition in Chile (see Case N° 133.313-2022, dated 27 July 2023). Consistent with previous cases, the Court upheld a broad scope of freedom for parties to…
On Friday 8 September 2023, the ICC International Court of Arbitration (‘ICC Court’) hosted a panel on the interaction between arbitration and national courts titled “Arbitration and National Courts – Convergence or Divergence?” at its headquarters in Paris. The event, organized by Pedro Arcoverde (then-ICC Court Managing Counsel and Lecturer at SciencesPo), as part of…
As the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023 (AMA) reshapes the legal landscape of dispute resolution in Nigeria, one of its remarkable provisions is the establishment of the Award Review Tribunal (ART). At Kluwer Arbitration Blog, posts have already been published that provide an overview of the AMA and more insights into the ART. To recall,…
In a recent decision, Court of Cassation No. 585/2023 (Commercial), the Dubai Court of Cassation (“COC”) concluded that the invalidity of a contract extends to the arbitration clause included in the underlying contract. This post blog examines this decision, the outcome of which is contrary to well-established UAE law as well as prior Dubai court…
The Vienna International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (VIAC)’s Selected Arbitral Awards are intended to provide a unique and valuable insight into a diverse range of important and challenging procedural and substantive issues, which have arisen in international arbitration under the auspices of the Vienna Rules since its inception in 1975. The…
The Seoul ADR Festival (“SAF”) 2023, hosted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (“KCAB”) INTERNATIONAL, was held from 30 October to 3 November 2023. The 12th Asia-Pacific ADR Conference, the flagship event of SAF 2023, took place on 1 November 2023 and was attended by approximately 300 participants on-site as well as other attendees simultaneously joining the conference…
On the first day of the 2023 Seoul ADR Festival, Secretariat Advisors hosted a double feature of panels relating to arbitration costs. The first panel focusing on the recovery of arbitration costs featured James Chun (foreign attorney, Kim & Chang), Inkoo Lee (manager, Secretariat), and Bruno Savoie (foreign attorney, City-Yuwa Partners). Messrs. Lee and Savoie…
On December 30, 2022, the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (“SPC”) released its 36th batch of six guiding cases, all of which relate to the judicial review of arbitration awards. Our previous article focused on the first three guiding cases (Guiding Cases 196, 197, and 198) which addressed several critical issues…
Readers with antennas tuned to the happenings of the reform process for investor-State dispute settlement at UNCITRAL will know that the topics of damages and causation are on the agenda. Indeed, at the last sessional meeting of Working Group III, draft provisions on damages and causation were discussed. These provisions might find their way into…
Since 2016, when the first issue of the European Investment Law and Arbitration Review was published, the Review has tracked developments in the new and increasingly important field of European investment law and arbitration. The Review is still the only law journal that specifically focuses on the impact that EU law has on bilateral investment…
According to a 2022 report by a cryptocurrency payment gateway company, since the cryptocurrency boom in 2017, Korea has truly become the “crypto hub of Asia,” powering nearly 30% of all cryptocurrency trades. But the unfortunate reality of these voluminous Korea-powered trades is that related disputes will inevitably arise. It is no secret that many…
“You want to tell us you don’t want to sow, you want to reap” asked the Nigerian appointed arbitrator, Chief Bayo OJO, during oral argument in the arbitration proceedings, to which Nigerian counsel, Chief Ayorinde, responded: “You cannot reap where you do not sow. That is a very Nigerian saying.” (Nigeria v. Process & Industrial…
