In May 2023, Nigeria’s Arbitration and Mediation Act (AMA) was enacted. It replaced the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1988 with a modernised version that aligns with the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law. Among its salient features is the Award Review Tribunal (ART) mechanism, outlined in Section 56. This distinctive, innovative procedural offers an alternative to traditional…
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…
The shift from a carbon-intensive economic model to a net-zero economy by 2050 will result in an increasingly significant role for carbon markets. A proliferation of business activities in the carbon trading space will require seismic regulatory change across global jurisdictions. In this evolving landscape, common issues have begun to emerge including: the practical and…
In a decision rendered on 7 April 2023 in the Thibelo case, the Belgian Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation/Hof van Cassatie) ruled that disputes about the termination of exclusive distribution agreements can be settled through arbitration, even where such an agreement is governed by foreign substantive law, regardless of whether such foreign law offers similar protection…
On June 7, 2023, an ICC tribunal issued an award that will redefine risk allocation in the construction industry. The arbitration was initiated by Refinería de Cartagena S.A.S. (“Reficar”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol S.A., which is in turn owned by the Republic of Colombia, against Chicago Bridge & Iron Company NV., CB&I UK…
The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (“UNIDROIT”), itself set up in 1926 as an off-spin of the League of Nations, has compiled and developed since 1970 a soft law tool, i.e. the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (“UNIDROIT Principles”). Three decades since their first release in 1994, the UNIDROIT Principles have played…
This post provides an analysis of 203 cases concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Mainland China between 2012 and 2022. Part I presented statistics on recognition and enforcement rates, the geographical distribution of applicants, the amount claimed, the time taken for rulings, respondents’ participation, and the sources of arbitral awards. It…
This two-part article provides an empirical analysis of hundreds of cases concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Mainland China between 2012 and 2022. In summary, the results show that, (1) on average, the courts of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) handled more than 20 applications per year and rendered rulings…
On 12 May 2023, the Santiago Court of Appeals (“Court”) denied EP Petroecuador’s (“Petroecuador”) (Ecuador national oil company) petition to set aside a US$63 million international commercial arbitration award. The decision is consistent with the Court’s history of denying petitions to set aside international commercial arbitration awards and marks an important milestone for Servicios Integrados…
In 2011, the ITA published its inaugural Guide to Arbitral Institutions in Latin America and an accompanying “Scoreboard.” The conclusion of this inaugural guide was: “The era of Latin American arbitral institutions has arrived. Building on a strong legal framework, arbitral institutions have emerged throughout the region.” This year, the Americas Initiative of the ITA…
The first arbitral institution providing institutional arbitration in Iran, the Arbitration Center of the Iran Chamber of Commerce (“ACIC”), released the latest edition of its arbitration rules on 19 February 2023. The new ACIC arbitration rules (“New Rules“), which came into effect in May 2023, replace the previous 2007 edition (“2007 Rules”). The New Rules…
As experienced negotiators know, the process of contract negotiation can give rise to fruitful and long-lasting business relationships. The parties may meet several times to develop the precise terms of their agreements, through videoconferences, in conference rooms, or over dinner and drinks. But for many contracts, the parties’ representatives never meet, limiting their negotiations to…
On Friday, 26 May 2023, the UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee for Australia (UNCCA) hosted its eighth annual May Seminar at the University of Canberra. This event, which took the form of a full-day conference, saw participants from all over Australia in the fields of government, private practice, and academia, spanning from students to eminent practitioners….
On August 6, 2020, an arbitral tribunal composed of Andrés Rigo Sureda (P), O. Thomas Johnson, Jr., and Pierre Mayer (the Tribunal), constituted under the agreement between the United Kingdom and Uruguay for the promotion and protection of investments (the BIT), issued an award in Prenay Agarwal, Vinita Agarwal and Ritika Mehta v. Uruguay (PCA…
One of the reasons that parties opt in for arbitration instead of litigation as a mechanism to settle their disputes is that the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award is easier to accomplish than the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment rendered by a state court. The Netherlands has been a party to…
Securing a favourable arbitral award is not trivial. It involves a lot of work, a wait of, potentially, several years and the expense of the arbitral process. After all this, when a favourable award has, hopefully, been obtained, the last thing any client wants is to enter into yet another fight to enforce the award….
International Law Talk is a series of podcasts through which Wolters Kluwer provides the latest news and industry insights from thought leaders and experts in the fields of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, and Competition Law. Here at Kluwer Arbitration Blog, we highlight the podcasts focused on international arbitration. In this latest episode,…
Mexico’s new National Code for Civil and Family Procedure was published on 7 June 2023 (“National Code”). The National Code will apply at both federal and local levels, and will replace both the Federal Code of Civil Procedure and the thirty-two local codes of civil procedure across all Mexican states. The National Code will enter…
In a judgment issued by the Dubai Court of Cassation (“COC”) on 8 June 2023 (Dubai Court of Cassation No. 1514/2022 Commercial), the COC confirmed that the condition precedent of referring the dispute to the engineer prior to filing arbitral proceedings is an issue pertaining to admissibility, not jurisdiction. The same judgment also provided insight…
The Republic of Türkiye is a strategic market which straddles Europe and Asia, providing an intersection of various cultures, languages, and religions. Türkiye is also well-versed in foreign investment, both inward and outward, in large part due to its geographical location and long history. Indeed approximately one-fifth of economic activity in Türkiye depends on foreign…
In June 2018, an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal issued an award against Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty. The successful claimants then commenced proceedings in Australia seeking recognition and enforcement under the ICSID Convention. Spain responded that it had not submitted to, and therefore had immunity from, the jurisdiction of…
Third-Party Funding (“TPF”) has emerged as a parallel industrial complex in the modern dispute resolution landscape. Parties routinely enter into Arbitration/ Litigation Funding Agreements (“LFA”) with third parties, based on both conditional fees and damages-based remuneration models, seeking financial services in relation to advocacy, litigation, or claims management. The increasing popularity of the industry can…
The recent case of Payward Inc v Chechetkin [2023] EWHC 1780 (Comm) represents a rare example of English courts refusing to enforce an arbitral award on public policy grounds. The award in question was rendered against Mr Chechetkin, a UK-domiciled lawyer who suffered significant losses trading on the Claimant’s cryptocurrency platform. The English Commercial Court…
A recent decision of the Hanoi People’s Court, Decision No. 12/2023/QD-PPT dated 4 July 2023 (“Decision 12”), held that a power-of-attorney (“POA”) signed outside of Vietnam and authorizing the signing and filing of an arbitration in Vietnam must have received consular authentication. In doing so, the Court clarifies the approach taken by the Ho Chi…
