ECT Modernisation, Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Environment, EU Law, International arbitration

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The modernization of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) has been debated among scholars, with some supporting it and others criticizing the process and outcome. The vote on the modernization was postponed indefinitely due to ongoing debates about the Treaty’s future, including various withdrawals from it. The modernization process encapsulates broader reform efforts and attempts to…

ECT Modernisation, ECT Withdrawal, Energy, Foreign Investment Law

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Much has been written already about the future of the Energy Charter Treaty (“the ECT”) – or perhaps lack thereof. Briefly, attempts to modernise the ECT began in earnest in 2017 with the aim of better aligning the treaty’s substantive provisions with its contracting parties’ climate law obligations. On 24 June 2022, those discussions culminated…

Climate change, ECT Modernisation, ECT Withdrawal, European Union, ISDS Reform

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By the end of April 2023, observers of the ECT modernisation process may have felt as if they were waiting for Godot. The vote on the outcome of the ECT modernisation process, scheduled to take place at an ad hoc meeting of Energy Charter Conference at the end of April 2023, was postponed for the…

Arbitration – The International Journal of Arbitration

(General Editor International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management; Queen Mary University of London), (Queen Mary University of London), (Chartered Institute of Arbitrators), and (Three Crowns)/ /Leave a comment

‘Are cryptocurrency assets a protected investment under investment treaties?’ Evgeniya Rubinina asks in the Journal’s first issue of 2023. It is both a topical and complex question to ask. It is topical because in the wake of an annus horribilis that cryptocurrencies had in 2022, including the collapse of major cryptocurrency trading firms such as…

Bar Council of India, India

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The Bar Council of India (“BCI”) recently notified (i.e. entered into effect) the Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers or Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022 (“Rules”). It is a pivotal moment for the Indian legal industry as it signals the transformative change allowing the entry of foreign law…

ITA Arbitration Report

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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…

Belt Road Initiative, China, Conference, ESG, ICSID, Judicial intervention, UNCITRAL, United States

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Columbia Arbitration Day (CAD), held on April 14, 2023, enjoyed record attendance levels this year and was held in the historic Low Memorial Library, a fitting venue for the first in-person CAD since before the COVID-19 pandemic.   The Judiciary in International Arbitration Proceedings The morning began with a panel moderated by Professor Alejandro Garro…

Dubai, New York Convention, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, UAE

(Watson Farley & Williams (Middle East) LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The UAE acceded to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Award 1958 (“NYC”) in 2006 by virtue of Federal Decree No. 43 of 2006. In recent years, the approach taken by the onshore UAE courts towards the enforcement and recognition of awards under the NYC, including the challenges of…

Climate change, ECT Modernisation, Energy Charter Treaty, Environment, International Investment Law, International Law, Investment Arbitration, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform

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The defining challenge of the 21st century is undoubtedly climate change. There is consensus that we need to reduce the level of carbon emissions and abide by the scientific community’s directions to preserve our environment; we are beyond preventing harm – our current urgency is mitigation. We seem united in our common goal to meet…

Arbitral Appointments, Australia, Diversity, Multiculturalism

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /1 Comment
ACICA 45

In recent years, there has been a drive in the international arbitration community to further diversify the pool of professionals who work in international arbitration (arbitrators and counsel alike). Most recently, this has taken form in the publication of gender diversity statistics (see, e.g., the ICC’s dispute resolution statistics 2020 or the ICCA’s 2022 Gender…

ISDS Reform

(Georgetown Law), (University of Oslo), and (University of Michigan)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

As scholars and practitioners have reported in recent years, the investor-state reform process continues to make progress at the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).  The most recent session held in New York at the end of March yielded productive results. A new Special Issue of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (JIDS) provides…

Emergency Application, Emergency Arbitrator, Interim measures, interim relief, SCC, SCC Rules

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Readers of this blog need little convincing of the advantages of arbitration over litigation. Historically, one of the hold-out trump cards of litigation was the possibility of court-ordered (and thus, enforceable) interim relief. Having identified this problem, the SCC Arbitration Institute in 2010 was among the first arbitral institutions to introduce rules allowing the parties…

Arbitration, Central Asia, Investment Arbitration, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

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In recent years, international investment law and the investor-state dispute settlement (‘ISDS’) system have arguably reached their melting point, with an increasing number of participants having diverging interests and perspectives. Many of these issues have come to the surface through the discussions ongoing at UNCITRAL Working Group III. In this context, the experiences of the…

Economic, History, Politics, science

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On March 3 and 4, 2023, the 19th Petersberg Arbitration Days took place at the Althoff Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany. The organizers of the annual conference, the Beck Academy and the German Arbitration Institute (DIS), put together an impressive, interdisciplinary program with top-class speakers. The multidimensional impulses ranged from law and economics…

Arbitration, Latin America, Mediation, Mediation and Dispute Management, Mediator, Technology, technology industry

(García Barragán Abogados)/ /Leave a comment
Asociación Latinoamericana de Arbitraje (ALARB)

On March 7, 2023, the virtual conference organized by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), as well as the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALARB) titled “Dispute Resolution in the Digital Economy” took place, within the context of UNCITRAL’s Working Group II works on dispute resolution and digital economy. During this conference, arbitration…

Energy, Energy Charter Treaty, Japan, Renewable energy

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The energy sector has long been one of the major users of international arbitration, and the field has always been a fertile ground for disputes, whether they be price reviews, construction claims, sale and delivery disagreements or disputes over the decommissioning of assets. This has certainly been the case in recent years, including for arbitrations…

Arbitration, China, Litigation, Third party funding

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In recent decades, third-party funding in arbitration and litigation has grown exponentially in many jurisdictions and has become a matter of continuing debate in academia and practice. (See, for example, here and here for previous blog posts.) Currently, People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”) legislation does not prohibit third-party funding, but it fails to…

Enforcement, Russia, Sovereign Immunities

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Although the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted almost everywhere and in-person events have returned to full swing, Kyiv Arbitration Days 2022 (KAD), the most famous Ukrainian arbitration event, was still held online. The title of the conference – “After the war: The legal battles” – speaks for itself. While the war is still ongoing and…

Caribbean, Challenge of Arbitral Award, Public Interest, Set aside an international arbitral award, Trinidad & Tobago

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Typically, when a country is labelled as an “arbitration-friendly jurisdiction”, contracting parties are assured that the Judiciary of that country will respect their autonomy and choice to resolve their disputes privately. Usually, courts in a pro-arbitration jurisdictions will likely adopt a hands-off approach and decline to interfere with the outcome of a decision to arbitrate….

BIT, Colombia, International dispute resolution, International Investment Arbitration, International Investment Law, Investment agreements, Investment protection, Latin America, Venezuela

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On 3 February 2023, Colombia and Venezuela entered into an Agreement for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (“Treaty”), with the objective of “incrementing the flow of transborder direct investment.” Both states are still to complete the ratification procedure for the Treaty to enter into force. This is an interesting development, especially considering the…

Arbitration, Dispute Settlement, ESG

(University College Cork)/ /3 Comments

The term environmental, social and governance (ESG) was coined almost 20 years ago in a landmark report entitled ‘Who Cares Wins,’ which was the result of a joint initiative of financial institutions invited by the then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to develop guidelines and recommendations on how to better integrate ESG issues in asset…

Arbitrability, Arbitral Award, Colombia, Enforcement, Latin America, Public Policy

(Independent Practitioner based in Bogota, Colombia)/ /Leave a comment

This post addresses the recognition and enforcement of foreign awards in Colombia and summarizes two important cases decided in 2022 by the Civil Chamber of the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice (“Court”) on the matter. These cases illustrate the process of analysis undertaken by the Court to decide requests for recognition and enforcement of foreign…

Bolivia, New York Convention, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Public Policy, United States Courts, USA

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In an important decision upholding the finality of awards and party autonomy in international commercial arbitration, a divided three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held in Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles SA v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SAB de CV (58 F.4th 429 (10th Cir. 2023)) that recognition of…

Arbitration Agreement, Korea, Law governing the arbitration agreement, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Proper law of arbitration agreement

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The issue of the governing law of the arbitration agreement was brought into the spotlight with the U.K. Supreme Court decision in Enka v. Chubb (discussed on the Blog here and here), and it became a hotly debated topic following the conflicting decisions from French and English courts on Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v. Kout Food…