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

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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…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Brazil, Case Management, Commercial Arbitration, Institutional Arbitration, Interview of our editors, Interviews with Our Editors, Latin America

(Locke Lord LLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment

Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Ms. Coelho!  We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC), and its administration of complex disputes, as well as about the attractiveness of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as seats for international arbitration. …

Annulment, Arbitral Secretary

, (QUINZ)/ /1 Comment

A recent, still unpublished, judgment of the French-speaking section of the Brussels Court of First Instance (Belgium) (the “Brussels court” or the “court”) provides an excellent opportunity to take stock of recent developments on the much-debated topic of delegation of tasks to arbitral secretaries. Russia famously put the arbitral secretary in the spotlight in the…

CAS arbitration, Court of Arbitration for Sport, double hatting, European Convention on Human Rights, European Court of Human Rights, Independence and Impartiality

, (Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler)/ /Leave a comment

On 8 June 2021, the Paris Court of appeal (CoA) rendered an interesting decision dealing with the issue of so-called “double hatting” in sports arbitration. The issue of double hatting can no longer arise with respect to proceedings before the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), as Article S18(3) of the Code of Sports-related…

Africa, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Stay of Proceedings, Tanzania

, , (Bowmans Tanzania)/ /1 Comment

This post is in response to the post titled “The First Year of Tanzania’s 2020 Arbitration Act” published on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog on 21 April 2021. In the above-mentioned post, Katarina Jurisic and Michael Wietzorek analysed the provisions of Tanzania’s Arbitration Act 2020 (‘the Act’) and the effect that the Act would have on…

Arbitration Agreement, Choice of Law, New York Convention, Non-signatory, United States, United States Courts

, (Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The United States Supreme Court’s June 2020 decision in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC (“GE Energy“) made clear that, under U.S. law, a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement may invoke equitable estoppel to compel arbitration under Article II(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of…

Advocacy, International arbitration, Persuasion, Soft skills, Theater

(Law School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru)/ /2 Comments

A few days ago I had the fortune of attending the fourth webinar of the Young ITA Mentorship Program – Speaker Series, entitled The (Sometimes Forgotten) Importance of the Arts and Psychology in Advocacy in International Arbitration. Part of the dialogue focused on reviewing whether theatrical study could be useful to lawyers in enhancing their…

India, Investment Arbitration

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In May 2021, India’s National Company Law Tribunal (‘NCLT’) ordered the liquidation of Devas Multimedia (‘Devas’), on grounds of it having been incorporated for fraudulent purposes. This is the latest turn in a long running dispute contested across multiple fora. In this post, I highlight that this could give rise to a third BIT claim…