Africa, Arbitration, Impartiality, Independence, International arbitration, Kenya, Laos, Seat of the arbitration

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The biennial 2020 Arbitration in Africa Survey Report (2020 Survey), which is the second in the series, is focused on top African arbitral centres and seats. It identifies the top and busiest arbitral centres in Africa. The survey was commissioned by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and sponsored by the law firm…

Costs in arbitral proceedings, Document Production, Duration, Interest, Mediation, Quiz, Transparency, Tribunal Secretary

(Bocconi University), (MDisputes), (Association ARBITRI), and (Arbitrator Intelligence)/ /Leave a comment

As the global pandemic has constrained in-person gatherings, many arbitration practitioners will have foregone most of their summer travel. Fortunately, for this summer’s holiday (quiz), we can all take a trip together to Transparency Land, where all arbitrators and institutions are above average, but may not all be equal in how they manage proceedings. With…

International arbitration, Swiss Private International Law Act, Switzerland

(Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd)/ /Leave a comment

The revision process of Chapter 12 of the Swiss Private International Law Act (PILA), governing international arbitration in Switzerland, was initiated in 2008 through a parliamentary motion. It led to a general mandate for the Swiss government to “touch up” Swiss international arbitration law with a view to aligning the statutory text with Swiss case…

Diversity, Gender equality, Unconscious Bias, Webinar, Women in arbitration

(Trilegal) and (Nishith Desai Associates)/ /Leave a comment

Nishith Desai Associates as part of its client continuing education program (“NDA cCep”) launched a two-part webinar series on “Women in Dispute Resolution”. The first session focused on perspectives of a Judge, an Arbitrator, In-house Counsel and law firm practitioners and dealt with the journey of each panelist. A sequel to this session, was recently…

EU-Mexico, International arbitration, Pre-Selected Tribunal Pool, Transnational Investment Law

, (Reed Smith)/ /2 Comments

Mexico and the EU recently released a draft text of the upcoming EU-Mexico Free Trade Agreement (the “Agreement in Principle”), including its proposed investor-State dispute chapter. As explained in the draft agreement, “The texts are published for information purposes only and may undergo further modifications including as a result of the process of legal revision….

Arbitral Award, COVID-19, Enforcement, International arbitration, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Virtual hearings

(American University of Armenia, ADR Clinic), (American University of Armenia, Technology and Innovation Legal Clinic), and (Equanimity Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

The COVID-19 outbreak as of now affects 183 states and a number of territories. Out of 164 State signatories to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “New York Convention”) only Marshall Islands, Tonga, Palau are not affected by the pandemic; all 153 state members to the ICSID Convention…

Annulment, Finality, Procedural Error, Procedural Order, Sweden

(University of Aberdeen)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent judgement, the Swedish Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the decision of the first instance which set aside an arbitral award in part due to a procedural error of the arbitral tribunal. The particularity of this case stems from the fact that the procedural error derived from an earlier procedural order of…

Company Law, Corporate disputes, Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland, Shareholder Resolutions, Shareholders Arbitration, Swiss Civil Procedure Code, Swiss Private International Law Act, Switzerland

(Homburger)/ /Leave a comment

One of the spillovers from arbitration’s popularity for the resolution of commercial disputes has been a steady increase in the use of arbitration provisions in corporate governance documents such as articles of association (“AoA”) or bylaws. Global public companies such as Royal Dutch Shell plc, Kone Oyj or Petrobras SA are prominent examples of this…

CAFTA, Damages, Guatemala, Latin America, Recidivism

(Eversheds Sutherland) and (Legalsa)/ /Leave a comment

US energy company TECO Guatemala Holdings, LLC (“TECO”) was awarded additional damages in a resubmitted ICSID claim against the Republic of Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (“DR-CAFTA”).1) TECO Guatemala Holdings, LLC v. Republic of Guatemala (ICSID Case No. ARB/10/23), Award, 13 May 2020. On 13 May 2020, the resubmission Tribunal…

Arbitration institution, Innovation, Legitimacy, Peru, Transparency

, (National and International Arbitration Center of the Lima Chamber of Commerce)/ /Leave a comment

In the last decades, Peru has been recognized to be a solid, convenient and leading choice as a seat for arbitrations in the Latin American region. Peru is party to the New York Convention and the ICSID Convention, as well as to several Bilateral Investment Treaties that provide for international arbitration as the applicable dispute…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, International arbitration, South Africa

, (Clyde & Co LLP)/ /Leave a comment

International arbitration is on the rise in South Africa.  This is partly a result of the country’s new arbitration law, which was passed in 2017, but now the process has been given a further boost by the publication by the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) of its draft International Arbitration Rules (the Draft Rules),…

Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Early Determination, Efficiency, Enforceability, LCIA Arbitration, LCIA Rules, Virtual hearings

(Enyo Law LLP)/ /Leave a comment

On 11 August 2020 the LCIA unveiled the long-awaited update to its Arbitration Rules (the 2020 Rules). The 2020 Rules will become effective on 1 October 2020 and will apply to arbitrations commenced from that date onwards. They will supersede the 2014 edition of the LCIA Arbitration Rules (the 2014 Rules). The 2020 Rules introduce…

Arbitration Proceedings, Dispositive Motions, Procedure, Summary procedure

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

Over the past decade, many arbitrators and international arbitration practitioners have seen a consistent increase in parties’ interest in bringing dispositive motions within the context of the arbitration proceedings. Some commentators—especially from common law traditions—suggest that such motions should play a more prominent role in international arbitration. In the same time frame, as discussed below,…

Appointment of arbitrators, Diversity, International arbitration

(Three Crowns LLP) and , (White & Case)/ /Leave a comment

On 28 July 2020, the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings released its long-awaited Report in the eighth volume of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Reports Series. Established in 2019, the Task Force brings together 17 leading international arbitration institutions, law firms and gender diversity initiatives to publish…

China, Hong Kong, Interim measures, interim relief, Legislation, PRC

, (King & Wood Mallesons)/ /Leave a comment
HK45

On 1 October 2019, the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the “Arrangement”) came into force. It was previously reported on the blog here and here. On 8 October 2019, the first interim measure under…

Arbitral Tribunal, Commercial Arbitration, EU Law, Poland, Public Policy, State Aid

(Queritius)/ /Leave a comment

In its judgment of 26 November 2019 (I ACa 457/18), the Warsaw Court of Appeal gave its view on the duties of arbitrators and counsel in cases involving state aid. In a well-argued decision, the Court reversed the decision of the lower court and annulled an award rendered by a prominent international tribunal on the…

China, Court Assistance, Judicial intervention, judicial review, PRC

(Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution) and (China Arbitration Institute of China University of Political Science and Law)/ /Leave a comment

In March 2020, the official Beijing judiciary website published the ground-breaking Big Data Research Report on Cases of the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People’s Court Involving Judicial Review of Arbitration (北京市第四中级人民法院仲裁司法审查案件大数据研究报告) (the “Report”). Prepared by the China Arbitration Institute of China University of Political Science and Law (中国政法大学仲裁研究院), the Report covers 18 months of decisions involving “judicial review”…

Admissibility, Singapore, time-limits

(Singapore Attorney-General’s Chambers)/ /Leave a comment

In BBA and others v BAZ and another appeal [2020] SGCA 53, the Singapore Court of Appeal (“SGCA”), in refusing to set aside an arbitral award, held that issues of time bar which arise from the expiry of statutory limitation periods go towards admissibility and not jurisdiction. Such issues cannot therefore be reviewed de novo…

Arbitration, Data Protection, DIAC, DIFC, UAE

, (Al Tamimi & Company)/ /Leave a comment

The data protection regime in the UAE is complicated. Parties to arbitrations that have connections to the UAE, regardless of whether the arbitrations are seated here, should be aware of the data protection regime(s) that may apply to them to ensure that no unintended breaches occur and to consider whether the relevant data protection regulations…

Institutional Rules, KCAB, Online Arbitration, Online Dispute Resolution, Seat of the arbitration, Virtual hearings

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Online dispute resolution (“ODR”) in international arbitration has been made feasible by the development of technology and its use has been stimulated by the Covid-19 pandemic that gave rise to higher demand for virtual proceedings. UNCITRAL Technical Notes on Online Dispute Resolution defines ODR as “a mechanism for resolving disputes through the use of electronic…

Code of Conduct, Expedited arbitration, International arbitration, ISDS Reform, Reform, UNCITRAL, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, Working Group II, Working Group III

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

Just like many of us have learned to work remotely these past few months, those leading the efforts to reform international arbitration have also had to endure the constraints imposed by the pandemic. At the first-ever virtual ITA-ASIL conference, held on 24 June 2020, Professor Chiara Giorgetti from the University of Richmond School of Law…

Access to Justice, Jurisdiction, Russia, Sanctions

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On 19 June 2020, the new sanctions-related amendments1)Federal Law No. 171-FZ dated 8 June 2020, introducing the amendments (text in Russian). to the Russian Commercial (Arbitrazh) Procedure Code entered into force. The main objective of the law is to protect the interests of Russian natural and legal persons who are unable to effectively resolve their…

Arbitration Act, New York Convention, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award, Tonga

, , (Clifford Chance Asia)/ /Leave a comment

On 12 June 2020, the Kingdom of Tonga (“Tonga“) acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “Convention“), being the 164th state party to do so. In the context of the Pacific region, Tonga is the 6th state to accede to the Convention after the Marshall…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitrator's decision-making, State, Treaty Amendment, Treaty Interpretation, Tribunal duties, VCLT

(WilmerHale)/ /Leave a comment

The lack of a binding effect of a State’s right to interpret treaties has been raised as one of the reasons to reform the current Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) regime. The movement to reform the current ISDS regime led to the UNCITRAL Working Group III discussion (“WG III discussion”), which has been addressed in this…