Whenever courts annul an arbitral award on the grounds of substantive public policy, there is typically an outcry. Especially amongst arbitrators. And even more when the court analyzes the merits of the award and holds that the arbitral panel incorrectly applied the law. This is exactly what the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichsthof, the…
The Swiss Very Young Arbitration Practitioners (“Swiss VYAP”), in collaboration with the Young Arbitral Women Practitioners (“YAWP”), held an interview series on career paths in international arbitration during the second half of 2022. Five interviewees, whose professional experience spanned the arbitration spectrum, shared their insight and knowledge in their respective arbitration environments. This blog post…
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in Komstroy (C-741/19, Sept, 2021) that the dispute resolution mechanism of the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) does not apply in intra-EU investment disputes. The ruling was interpreted by some as the beginning of the end of intra-EU investment arbitration. A recent decision by the…
Given the protean nature of technology, it has the propensity to evolve in ways that may surprise even the keenest observers. As such, the time is ripe to take stock of developments in relation to the new technologies discussed in our earlier article from 2018, such as Big Data, blockchain, machine learning and text mining,…
In November 2022, a contract-based arbitral tribunal issued an anti-arbitration injunction with the aim of enjoining parallel investment treaty proceedings between the parties. This post examines this injunction – which was ignored by the investment-treaty tribunal – and its implications. Background In March 2020, Patel Engineering Limited (“PEL”), an Indian-incorporated infrastructure and construction service…
One of the complaints levelled at arbitration is that tribunal orders lack teeth because, unlike a court, arbitrators do not have wide-ranging powers to enforce interlocutory measures against a party. Tribunals must often rely on the courts of the seat to enforce interlocutory measures. In December 2022, the English Court of Appeal (“CoA”) in S3D…
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court (the “Court”) recently outlined when a subsequently discovered ground for challenge of an arbitrator can be a possible ground for review of an award. The present post summarizes and discusses the Court’s decision. Background In decision 4A_100/2022 of August 24, 2022, the Court dealt with a review request against…
On 10 January 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal (“Paris CoA”) set aside the 50+ million USD UNCITRAL award rendered in the dispute between Komstroy (before Energoalians LLC, and now Stileks Scientific and Production Firm LLC (“Stileks”)) and the Republic of Moldova. The referring court applied the ruling rendered by the Court of Justice of…
After thirteen years, the Arbitration Center of Mexico (“CAM”), one of the most prominent arbitration centers in Mexico, revised its Arbitration Rules (the “Rules”). The purpose of these amendments is to adapt the Rules to global changes and address the needs of its users that have arisen since the last version in 2009. The 2022…
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…
On 10 October 2022, the Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) accepted a challenge brought by Venezuela against the appointment of the Claimant’s appointee, Dr. Wolfgang Peter, in an investor state arbitration (PCA Case No. 2022-03) instituted by German Claimant, Lufthansa (“Challenge Decision”). The Challenge Decision is the latest in the series of…
International arbitration is a prime example of the power and complexity of combined human minds. It is a marvel of human cooperation and ingenuity that strangers forego barbarism in favour of peaceful resolution – even more so when they do it cross-borders, on the unlikely belief that their interests will be guarded by yet another…
Issues relating to the arbitrability of disputes have gained increasing prominence in recent years. The question of which law ought to govern an arbitration agreement and concomitantly the inquiry as to whether a dispute is arbitrable, in the absence of an explicit choice of law governing the arbitration agreement has been explored in previous judgments…
This blog post covers UNCITRAL’s current work on adjudication, whose declared goal is to ensure enforcement of decisions concluding the adjudication procedure, especially in the context of cross-border, long-term projects. The post first gives an overview of the model clauses drafted by UNCITRAL, explaining the role played by the UNCITRAL Expedited Arbitration Rules (“Expedited Rules“)….
On December 20, 2022, Chile’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that has been praised by the arbitral community for its pro-arbitration stance in the face of an apparently pathological arbitration clause. In its decision, the highest court of Chile lent decisive support to key international arbitration principles, such as party autonomy, domestic minimum intervention and…
Over the past several years, interest in space-related activities has boomed. Countries increased the number of missions undertaken. Moreover, private actors have become increasingly interested in space activities, particularly in the field of telecoms and satellites, but also advertising and space tourism. This increase in space activity brought with it a rise in discussions within…
Subscribers to KluwerArbitration enjoy access to the ICCA Yearbook Commercial Arbitration. The first upload of materials for the 2023 volume of ICCA’s Yearbook Commercial Arbitration is now available on the KluwerArbitration database, with 27 court decisions from 12 countries. Here are some of the highlights. The European Court of Human Rights in BTS Holding v….
In October 2022, the ICC launched its new digital case management platform, ICC Case Connect. Although not mandatory, parties are encouraged to use this new system, which is touted as a platform that “facilitates communication and document-sharing and offers a secure, dedicated, online space in which all case documents and information are centralised and easily…
In a recent decision, the Austrian Supreme Court ruled on the enforceability of an investor-state award rendered under the ICSID Additional Facility Rules. While the Supreme Court found that the award was — in principle — enforceable under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards from 1958 (“NYC“), it upheld the…
As a student in Ireland, US, and Sweden, I came to learn that I was not only studying contracts, or torts, or constitutional law, but rather “contracts with Professor Hedley”, “torts with Professor O’Callaghan”, “constitutional law with O’Mahony”, and so on. Fast-forward some years later, my own students do not take the general course of…
On 30 November 2022, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (along with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law) organised the 2022 Kaplan Lecture. The lecture was delivered by Robert Spano – a former President and Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) – and focussed on the new frontiers faced by…
2022 was undoubtedly the most challenging year in the history of independent Ukraine. The international implications of Russia’s war against Ukraine, including economic sanctions and global energy and food crises, have been felt even in the most remote corners of the globe. Unsurprisingly, the war also stalled the majority of investment arbitrations involving Ukraine, affecting…
International arbitration proceedings typically involve fact-sensitive and technically complex transnational disputes, and usually require large legal teams, multiple expert and fact witnesses, making the costs skyrocket. In this scenario, a party lacking the necessary funds might decide not to pursue a legitimate claim. This limited access to arbitral justice is concerning from a policy standpoint,…
Few people can pride themselves with a career as rich and impactful as that of the Honorable L. Yves Fortier, PC CC, OQ, KC, Ad. E., LLD and no summary will do it justice. Counsel, negotiator, arbitrator, diplomat, thought leader – these are just some of the hats Mr. Fortier has worn over the years….
