Canada’s west coast has long welcomed arbitration as a means of dispute resolution and provided a venue for arbitrations of all kinds. The Vancouver International Arbitration Centre (VanIAC) – established in 1986 under the name British Columbia International Commercial Arbitration Centre (BCICAC) – has recently made further strides in providing parties with workable and efficient…
It is critical to invest time to ensure that there are no inconsistencies between multiple dispute resolution/jurisdiction clauses within a particular contractual relationship (whether within a single contract or across multiple related contracts). Such inconsistencies inevitably lead to disputes over how the parties should resolve their disputes – a potentially costly sideshow to the resolution…
Various Pacific Island states have become involved in deep seabed mining (“DSM”) in order to reap the allegedly significant benefits to be obtained from extractive activities in the international seabed (“the Area”). According to the government of Nauru, such gains include “employment; training; capacity building; technology transfer; foreign investment; increased tax revenue; and national self-determination”….
Following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, dozens of states imposed sanctions against Russia. In response, Russia imposed or threatened to impose severe countermeasures on foreign investments associated with such “unfriendly states”. In this regard, several news outlets reported that Russia is in the process of implementing legislation that will interfere with foreign investments in…
States have spent the last decade and a half rebalancing the design of their international investment agreements (IIAs). In their new-generation IIAs, states have clarified core protective standards, omitted controversial clauses, and inserted new carve-outs and general exceptions. These reformed treaties, it was hoped, would provide investment tribunals with “new analytical devices for adjudicating disputes…
Though the world is in a constant state of flux, the last few years have been particularly taxing on the global economy. As the world emerges from a pandemic, it has lurched into a state of geopolitical tension arguably not seen since the end of the Cold War. The 7th ICC Asia-Pacific Conference on International…
At the recent hybrid 7th ICC Asia-Pacific Conference on International Arbitration (the “Conference”), a palpable sense of happiness and community resonated throughout the day. Mr Justin D’Agostino (Global CEO, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hong Kong) moderated the first panel discussion in a quick fire manner on recent arbitration developments in the Asia-Pacific region with leading practitioners…
Two years since it was published, the draft of the Code of Conduct for Adjudicators in International Investment Disputes is still subject to discussion and refinement by States and other stakeholders participating in the UNCITRAL Working Group III (WG III). This evolving instrument, developed jointly by the ICSID and UNCITRAL Secretariats, is the first attempt…
On May 2, 2021, the ICC Austria organized a seminar on investment protection in Russia in light of its limited-scope investment agreements and the ongoing military crisis. The key speakers were Dr. Herfried Wöss, a partner of Woess & Partners LLC and founder of the Investment Arbitration Forum, and Prof. Dr. Nikos Lavranos, Of Counsel at…
After a two-year hiatus, the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum (ICC YAF) was back with a fully in-person program in Warsaw. This unique conference included an interview with Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, followed by a lively panel discussion on “champagne clauses and what comes next”. The event coincided with the…
New features for the Profile Navigator, Relationship Indicator, and expanded Awards search capabilities will equip arbitration practitioners with faster and on-target research and actionable insights Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. announced new enhancements to several tools within Kluwer Arbitration Practice Plus (KAPP). These additions will expand KAPP’s capabilities to guide practitioners in finding the…
Amidst the still ongoing negotiations on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which were concluded with an agreement in principle yesterday (24 June 2022), the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) delivered its ruling on Belgium’s request for an opinion on the compatibility of intra-EU investor-state arbitration under a modernised text of…
A recent decision of the Lithuanian Supreme Court (Civil case No. e3K-3-121-916/2022, 18 January 2022, hereinafter the “LSC judgement”) adds another episode to the long saga of implementing the Achmea decision. The Lithuanian decision once again confirms the end of the BITs era in Europe and turns to national courts as well as to the…
The 31st of January 2022 marked twenty-five years from the day the Arbitration Act 1996 was brought into force. Inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Law but, at the same time distinctly English, the Act has rightly been hailed as an ‘exemplary piece of legislation’.1) Merkin and Flannery on the Arbitration Act 1996 (6th Edition Informa…
‘Sunset’ (or ‘survival’) clauses extend the effects of the relevant investment treaty after its termination. They provide that the protection afforded by the treaty is maintained for a further period of time after termination to investments made during the lifetime of the treaty. As such, sunset clauses have an ‘entrenchment effect’ limiting the ability of…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Roger P. Alford, Crina Baltag, Matthew E.K. Hall and Monique Sasson, Empirical Analysis of National Courts Vacatur and Enforcement of International Commercial Arbitration Awards The empirical research in this article relies on a…
The debate surrounding the meaning and scope of the term ‘investment’ under the ICSID Convention is a product of the larger tussle between capital exporting and capital importing states, which convened at Washington in the search for a mutually beneficial agreement on foreign investments. It has been argued by Prof. Julian Davis Mortenson that ‘investment’…
One of the articles authored by Dr Monique Sasson and featured in the Journal of International Arbitration Special Issue on Empirical Work in Commercial Arbitration, edited by Dr Monique Sasson, Dr Crina Baltag, Roger P. Alford, Matthew E.K. Hall, under the general editorship of Prof. Dr Maxi Scherer, discussed the public policy in the light…
Family businesses – commercial entities in which multiple generations of a family wield influence over decision-making – are one of the oldest and most prevalent forms of association across the world, ranging from convenience stores to multinational corporations like Walmart, Samsung and Porsche. In 2020, Boston Consulting Group described family businesses as “contributing between 25%…
2021 was a record-breaking year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The total global deal value amounted to USD 5.9 trillion, an increase of 64% compared to 2020 and the highest ever recorded, driven by high valuations and fuelled by access to cheap financing. The market was strong across corporate and financial buyers. The year saw…
Nicole Smith is the Vice-President of the Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand (AMINZ), the leading membership organisation for dispute resolution specialists in New Zealand. In addition to her work with AMINZ, Nicole is also a barrister at Mauao Legal Chambers specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration. Dual qualified in New Zealand and England…
On June 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion resolving a U.S. Circuit Court split over a hotly debated issue, namely whether 28 U.S.C. § 1782 applies to private foreign or international arbitrations. In ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd., 596 U.S. ___ (2022), the Supreme Court was required to decide whether…
The Kluwer Arbitration Blog previously published an excellent summary by Jonathan Tompkins of the oral arguments held before the United States Supreme Court on March 23, 2022 on the future scope and application of 28 U.S.C. §1782, a federal statute that allows foreign or international tribunals and their litigants to ask the relevant district court…
On June 6, 2022, the Journal of International Arbitration Special Issue on Empirical Work in Commercial Arbitration, was released, edited by Dr Monique Sasson, Dr Crina Baltag, Roger P. Alford, Matthew E.K. Hall, under the general editorship of Prof. Dr Maxi Scherer. The Special Issue also includes articles authored by Prof. Loukas Mistelis, Prof. Dr…
