Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration institution, China, judicial review, kompetenz-kompetenz, Validity

(Hui Zhong Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

On 30 July 2021, the PRC Ministry of Justice issued the Amendment to the Arbitration Law (Consultation Draft) (the “Draft Amendment”), which is the first substantial amendment of the existing PRC Arbitration Law (the “Arbitration Law”) in more than two decades. (See previous posts on the PRC Arbitration Law here and here.) Of the changes…

Annulment, Arab World, Constitutional Court, Egypt, MENA

(Amereller)/ /1 Comment

On 6 January 2021, the Egyptian Government introduced a draft law for parliament’s approval, seeking to expand the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court’s (“ESCC”) jurisdiction to scrutinize international arbitration awards rendered against the Egyptian State and acts of international organizations affecting the Egyptian State. The legislative amendment is in line with previous legislative measures designed to…

Arbitration institution, Enforcement, Hungary

(LFB – László Fekete Bagaméry, Attorneys at Law)/ /Leave a comment

Would you agree to arbitrate in a forum where the opposing party has the last word about the tribunal’s composition? This is what the new Hungarian Concession Arbitration Court, scheduled to start operation in October 2021, proposes.   The Name of the Game The Hungarian government loves playing with arbitration. In 2012, they prohibited arbitration…

Court Proceedings, Discretion, India, Set aside an arbitral award

(Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys)/ /Leave a comment

Proceedings for setting-aside arbitral awards in India have been the subject of controversy since time immemorial. Recent trends indicate that the tendency of courts to set-aside awards has been on the wane. However, on many occasions, courts have been sympathetic to the losing party on issues of quantum, costs and interest, and have undertaken a…

Discovery, SCOTUS, Section 1782 Discovery, U.S. Supreme Court, United States Courts

, , (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been written about the U.S. Supreme Court case Servotronics Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC, which concerns the scope of 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (“Section 1782”). This interest is not surprising given this was set to be the first time in 17 years that the U.S. Supreme Court (the “Court”) would consider the scope of…

Arbitrators, Diversity

(Association ARBITRI), (Covington & Burling LLP), (Costigan King), (Arbitrator Intelligence), and (Bocconi University)/ /Leave a comment
Arbitrator Intelligence

In recent years, a range of organizations have sprung up to challenge the existing hegemony in arbitrator appointments. As an opening gambit, ArbitralWomen pushed to have arbitral institutions publish statistics regarding the gender of arbitrators sitting in their cases. Then, with clearer understanding of gender deficits, ArbitralWomen together with the ERA Pledge urged parties and…

COVID-19, Force majeure, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform, SIAC, SIAC Congress

(Omni Law LLC)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

The 2021 SIAC Congress held virtually on 10 September 2021 drew arbitration aspirants and practitioners from all over the globe, and sought to grapple with the key challenges of the day within the realm of arbitration. The second panel session, on “The Multi-Dollar Question: Will the Pandemic and Governments’ Responses to it Lead to a…

Arbitral Appointments, International Commercial Courts, SIAC, SIAC Congress

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YSIAC

The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”) hosted its annual Congress virtually for the second consecutive year on 10 September 2021.  2021 also marks the 30th anniversary of the SIAC.  In his keynote speech Mr K Shanmugam SC, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law, Singapore, congratulated SIAC on successfully completing 30 years.  He commended…

Arbitration Agreement, China, Courts, Multi-tiered clauses, Pre-arbitral procedure

(Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution) and (CIETAC)/ /Leave a comment

Multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses – which typically require negotiation, mediation, and/or other form(s) of alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) prior to submitting the dispute to binding arbitration – are ubiquitous, and a standard feature of complex construction contracts. Contrary to their intended function of promoting efficiency and preserving business relationships, as observed by Gary Born, they…

Ad hoc arbitration, Arbitral seat, Arbitration Act, Arbitration institution, China

, (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP) and (Arnold & Porter)/ /2 Comments

Efforts are underway in China to reform the Arbitration Law of the PRC (“PRC Arbitration Law”), a statute that was promulgated in 1994 (effective in 1995) and that remains substantially unchanged to this day.1)The authors wish to thank Arnold & Porter Shanghai office interns Lyuzhi Wang and Steven Peng for their assistance in the preparation…

Arbitral Award, Poland, Statistics

, , (Kubas Kos Gałkowski)/ /Leave a comment

Arbitration has been well-established in Poland already before and throughout the 1920s. It has, however, experienced a downturn between 1945 and 1989 due to the distrust of the Polish state. The winds had changed in the 1990s when arbitration started to flourish again. Since then, the Polish parliament introduced several reforms previously discussed on this…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment

, (Reed Smith)/ /1 Comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism provided for by the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) (Article 26(2)c) is not applicable to intra-EU disputes (C-741/19). In the same decision, it also decided that the acquisition of a claim arising from an electricity supply contract does not constitute…

Advocacy, Arbitral Tribunal, Decision Making

, (Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP) and (Hughes Hubbard LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On June 22, 2021, the Dispute Resolution Interest Group (“DRIG”) of the American Society of International Law hosted the webinar “Psychology in Oral Advocacy:  Using Science to Persuade International Tribunals.”  The event featured Doak Bishop, Ula Cartwright-Finch, Jennifer K. Robbennolt and Sabina Sacco, and was moderated by DRIG co-chairs Simon Batifort and Rémy Gerbay.  This…

Arbitration Act 1996, England, English Arbitration Act, English Law, Uncategorized

, (King & Spalding)/ /Leave a comment

In Armada Ship Management (S) Pte Ltd v Schiste Oil and Gas Nigeria Ltd [2021] EWHC 1094 (Comm), the High Court considered the interplay between sections 32 and 72 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) and provided a rare indication of how the courts will consider section 32 applications, identifying when section 32 will…

Arbitration Award, Enforcement, Hungary, International Public Policy, New York Convention

(SMARTLEGAL Schmidt & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

Drawing a well-defined line of demarcation between domestic and international public policy when enforcing foreign arbitral awards sends a clear pro-arbitration message from national courts in any jurisdiction. Does Hungarian case law come close to this level of sophistication? This post analyses this question in the context of procedural public policy, and it does so…

Arbitration Proceedings, Diversity, South Korea

(Peter & Kim) and (McNair International )/ /Leave a comment
Peter & Kim

The current quest for greater diversity in the world of arbitration has focused heavily on the proportion of women as well as different ethnic and cultural groups on arbitral tribunals, boards and committees of arbitral institutions, and, to a lesser extent, acting as lead counsel. Most recently, there have been timely demands to recognize and…

Arbitration Act, Ecuador, International Commercial Arbitration, Latin America, regulation

(Tobar ZVS)/ /Leave a comment

Ecuador´s Arbitration and Mediation Law (“AML”) was enacted in 1997 and amended in 2015. However, the AML did not count with regulations until August 2021. Given that some provisions contained in the AML are vague, arbitrators, counsel and judges interpreted them in different ways, many of them in contradiction with the very nature of the…

Climate change, Customary international law, Dispute Settlement, Environment, ICSID Arbitration, International Investment Law, International Law, Uncategorized

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ISDS has faced harsh criticism from environmental groups as being inimical to the protection of the environment. This post argues that environmental protection is an emerging jus cogens norm, and thus, an arising erga omnes obligation, which investment tribunals must recognize as such. Additionally, it explores the legal consequences of applying this public international law…

Announcement

(Stockholm University)/ /Leave a comment

The Editorial Board of the ITA Arbitration Report announces the opening of two positions of Assistant Editors. The Assistant Editors report directly to the co-managing editors, Dr Monique Sasson and Dr Crina Baltag. The Assistant Editors are expected to assist the co-managing editors in their tasks and to summarize relevant arbitral awards as per the…

Jurisdiction, Qatar, Qatar Financial Centre

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration) and (Al Tamimi & Company)/ /Leave a comment

Similar to other countries in the region, Qatar’s primary legal system is civil law based. In 2005, the Qatar Financial Centre (“QFC”), an offshore jurisdiction, was established in Qatar by virtue of Law No. 7 of 2005 as amended by Law No. 2 of 2009 (“QFC Law”). This post sheds light on the jurisdiction of…

Arbitration Tech Toolbox, Damages, Damages experts, Hot tubbing, quantum

, (Berkeley Research Group)/ /Leave a comment

The views of the party-appointed experts in an arbitration may differ substantially, making it difficult for tribunals to navigate within the multiple areas of disagreement. Even if the disagreed issues can be isolated (e.g. via means of the joint expert report), understanding the sensitivity of the amount claimed to the individual assumptions may not be…

Announcement

(Stockholm University)/ /Leave a comment

The Editorial Board of the ITA Arbitration Report announces the opening of two positions of Assistant Editors. The Assistant Editors report directly to the co-managing editors, Dr Monique Sasson and Dr Crina Baltag. The Assistant Editors are expected to assist the co-managing editors in their tasks and to summarize relevant arbitral awards as per the…

FRAND arbitration, Intellectual Property, Technology

(University of Tilburg)/ /Leave a comment

Technology is crucial in the contemporary, knowledge-based economy. Over the past decade, technology-related, telecommunications, and now Internet of Things (IoT) disputes have gained momentum. An area of relevance has been ‘Fair, Reasonable and Non-discriminatory’ (FRAND) litigation. It relates to the licensing terms of patents essential to the implementation of a standard. While litigation is an…

Achmea, Arbitration Proceedings, Climate change, Energy Charter Treaty, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, ISDS, Netherlands, Paris Agreement

(Smallegange, Dutch Arbitration Association)/ /Leave a comment

Western European countries have taken divergent approaches to dealing with the consequences of shutting down power plants while transitioning towards cleaner energy sources. On one side, Germany resolved the resulting compensation disputes by making settlement payments to the owners of affected nuclear and coal power plants. In contrast, the Netherlands appears reluctant to similarly compensate…