We are happy to report that the latest issue of the ASA Bulletin is now available and includes the following articles and cases: ARTICLES Felix DASSER, The Revised Swiss Lex Arbitri: A Story of Two Dozen Jewels In his message, ASA President Felix DASSER commends the light touch revision of the Swiss lex arbitri…
The Chilean Supreme Court recently issued a decision that, on its face, respects party autonomy in international arbitration. But, it could do more harm than good. On September 14, 2020, the Chilean Supreme Court (the “Court”) entered a final judgement in the case CCF SUDAMERICA SPA, Rol Nº 19568-2020 (“CCF Sudamericana” or the “Decision”). The…
Since its creation, the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA) has been at the forefront of promoting international arbitration in Africa, particularly with respect to creating a favourable setting for international and regional arbitration under the Uniform Act on Arbitration adopted by the seventeen OHADA Member States. This momentum continued with the recent adoption…
Third-party funding (TPF) has come a long way from its humble beginnings at the fringes of various jurisdictions, where it was historically a tort and even a crime. Today, the doctrines of champerty and maintenance have been decriminalized and in most jurisdictions no longer fall foul of public policy considerations. TPF is now perceived as…
The 2021 ICC Arbitration Rules introduce new procedures, update key provisions, and formalize the existing practices of the ICC Secretariat and the Court in order to allow for greater flexibility, efficiency and transparency in the administration of ICC arbitration cases. We will focus in this post on the changes made under the new Rules to…
Multi-party and multi-contract complex disputes are now ubiquitous in international arbitration practice. This is unsurprising given the increasingly complex nature of international trade and commerce. Institutional statistics show substantial growth in the number of disputes involving multiple parties and multiple contracts. The 2019 International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) Dispute Resolution Statistics reveal that out of…
2020 saw important case law developments concerning the proper law of arbitration agreements, where the seat of the arbitration is in a different jurisdiction from the governing law of the main contract, particularly in the UK. However, various jurisdictions have adopted different approaches to this issue. It remains to be seen which jurisdictions will follow…
The Editorial Board of Kluwer Arbitration Blog announces the opening of three positions with Kluwer Arbitration Blog: Assistant Editor for Europe, Assistant Editor for Middle East North Africa (MENA), and Assistant Editor for Investment Arbitration. For each respective position, the Assistant Editor reports directly to the coordinating Associate Editor and is expected to (1) collect, edit…
Today is the last day of 2020. For most of us, 2020 has been a particularly unusual year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prompted by necessity, arbitration in Southeast Asia adapted to the sea-change by: (i) using technology for virtual hearings, events and to build on existing diversity initiatives, (ii) developing domestic arbitration case law…
The past decade has witnessed a surge in popularity of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investment, which is a multilateral treaty that binds twenty-seven states and allows for the resolution of investor-state disputes by ad hoc arbitration. There has been much scholarly discussion about this treaty as cases under…
Brazil’s new data protection law, the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD) (September 18, 2020), has important implications for international arbitration users and practitioners.1)On August 2018, the law was approved with an effective date of February 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effective date was postponed and the law came into force in…
In 2019, we were wondering whether winter had come to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), bringing with it a decline in the negotiation and conclusion of bilateral investment treaties. Looking back on 2020, we are left asking ourselves a similar question. This post will examine the year’s major institutional developments and their effects on ISDS both…
Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Mr. Ngugi! We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration – NCIA, the type of disputes it handles and the way it is facing recent developments, such as the COVID-19 crisis. Please give our readers a brief background of yourself and…
In December of each year we take a moment to thank our readers, collaborators and editors for their tremendous support. This year is special. As we come at the end of a year of challenges, but also of opportunities, we express our gratitude for being part of an amazing community and for being able to…
One of the questions that the legal community in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) has been grappling with is whether or not commercial agency disputes are arbitrable. Decisions have been issued invalidating arbitration agreements in the context of commercial agency disputes. However, contrary decisions upholding arbitration agreements have also been issued. This post examines one…
Although the Old Continent has suffered tremendously at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of arbitration still managed to find a way to keep on going. In this post, we are going to provide an overview of the most pivotal arbitration developments that occurred on the European soil in 2020. Among others, these…
On 27 October 2020, the Egyptian Court of Cassation (“Court”) rendered a ground-breaking judgment that is demonstrative of the Court’s appreciation of ongoing global developments in the field of arbitration (a courtesy translation prepared by the author of this post is available here). The case pertains to a domestic construction dispute under a subcontract that…
Aside from providing great entertainment, films such as Wall Street and The Big Short have taught us that there are numerous complex financial products which are regularly created within the banking and finance industry that could give rise to disputes. Traditionally, litigation has been the mode of choice for resolving banking and finance disputes. However,…
The Centre for Advanced Research and Training in Arbitration Law (CARTAL) and the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law (IJAL) organised the 5th Annual Conference on International Arbitration titled ‘Riding New Tides: Arbitration in a Changing World’ (‘Conference’) on 9–11 October 2020 with the support of the SAARC Arbitration Council. The Conference comprised three panel discussions on…
In 2020, we witnessed a number of interesting developments in the field of investment arbitration in Latin America. From the entry into force of the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) signed over a year ago, as well as numerous cases and actions still arising from the Odebrecht scandal that became public back…
Following on the first day of Washington Arbitration Week (WAW), covered in detail here, later programming of WAW did not shy away from further in-depth discussions. This post highlights programming that dug into energy and the environment, arbitration from the client’s perspective, infrastructure disputes during the pandemic, and last but not least, damages valuation. …
The 1st edition of Washington Arbitration Week (WAW) included focus on systemic issues pertaining to ISDS. Today, ISDS reform is at a crucial point. Theories and approaches to reform are now crystallized into working papers from States and other organizations, and academic papers submitted before UNCITRAL’s Working Group III (“WG III”). Panelists critically reviewed the…
The first edition of Washington Arbitration Week or WAW, took place on-line from November 30 to December 4, 2020, hosting 15 panels with over 4,000 registrations and 1,476 attendees. This post aims to provide a flavor of the first day of programming. The Co-Chairs of WAW, Ian Laird and Dr. Jose Antonio Rivas, opened the…
Much has been written about the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Enka v Chubb [2020] UKSC 38 (“Enka”) including on the blog. Those familiar with the judgment will know the Supreme Court decision was split 3 – 2 and the majority upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision but on different grounds. These divisions may give…
