Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitrator Intelligence, Arbitrators, COVID-19, International arbitration

(Bocconi University)/ /7 Comments
Arbitrator Intelligence

Long before the now-popular phrase “pale, male, and stale,” leading arbitrators were instead often referred to as a “club,” a “cartel,” or even a “monopoly.” Those references were meant metaphorically, even jokingly. The irony is that they turn out to hold important truths that are promiscuously intertwined with the pale-male-stale moniker. To understand both, we…

Arbitration Agreement, India, kompetenz-kompetenz, Negative Effect, Positive Effect, UNCITRAL

(Avsai Legal) and / /Leave a comment

The Prolonged saga of enforcement of the ICC commercial arbitration award of 2015 in Devas v. Antrix (ICC Case No. 18051/ CYK of 2011) has not only raised several interesting questions in respect of pathological arbitration agreements but has also highlighted the ineffectiveness of the “Negative Effect” of the doctrine of Kompetenz-Kompetenz, given the possible…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Investment Arbitration, Organization of Islamic Cooperation

(Allen & Overy LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The recent case of Itisaluna Iraq LLC and Others v. Republic of Iraq represents the first time that an ICSID tribunal had been constituted under the Agreement on Promotion and Protection and Guarantee of Investments among Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (the “OIC Agreement”). The tribunal affirmed that the OIC Agreement contains a…

Journal of International Arbitration

(ArbBoutique & Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions:   Christoph Liebscher, Teamwork Approach in Arbitration: A New Perspective Attempts to increase the efficiency of case management in arbitration have been around for some time. They were mainly focused on the design and…

Canada, England, English Arbitration Act, UK

(Choudhry Law and WZB Berlin Social Science Centre)/ /Leave a comment

The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 potentially poses an inadvertent, yet serious, threat to judicial deference to domestic commercial arbitration in Canada. Until Vavilov, courts hearing appeals on questions of law from arbitral tribunals applied the deferential “reasonableness” standard of review. Vavilov…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Investment Arbitration

(Bottega Di Bella)/ /Leave a comment

This post examines an illustrative case of a successful diplomatic protection claim under an old Bilateral Convention of Establishment (BCE). These were early precursors to Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), which aimed to encourage and protect foreign investments. While revisiting Switzerland’s unlawful expropriation of Italian-owned real estates, the post proposes an alternative solution to that case…

Hearings, Videoconferencing, Virtual hearings

(Africa Arbitration Academy )/ /1 Comment

In response to a query “whether an arbitral tribunal can order virtual proceedings where any of the parties to the arbitration does not consent?” posed during the drafting of the Africa Arbitration Academy Protocol on Virtual Arbitral Hearings in Africa, Professor Mohamed Abdel Wahab has now published a 6-point pathway (“Abdel Wahab’s Pathway”) that may…

Enforcement, English courts, Estoppel, New York Convention

(Hogan Lovells)/ /1 Comment
YIAG

The recent English High Court decision in Carpatsky Petroleum Corporation v PJSC Ukrnafta [2020] EWHC 769 (Comm) provides useful guidance on the English courts’ approach to determining whether a party is entitled to resist the enforcement of an award on one of the grounds set out in s. 103(2) of the Arbitration Act 1996 (which…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, COVID-19, Institutional Rules, International arbitration, International Commercial Arbitration, SIAC, Virtual hearings

(SIAC)/ /1 Comment

Background There is much public discourse on the impact of the ongoing pandemic on international arbitrations. Commentators and scholars have provided perspectives on how to navigate and find safe harbours in the uncharted waters of COVID-19. In the “new normal” of wide-ranging travel advisories and restrictions, there is an emerging consensus to better integrate the…

Australia, Enforcement, England, Hong Kong, New York Convention, Public Policy, Singapore

, (Debevoise & Plimpton)/ /Leave a comment

Public policy defences to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards continue to generate uncertainty. Under Article V(2)(b) of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”), an award may be refused recognition or enforcement if “[t]he recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary…

ICCA, In Memoriam Van Vechten Veeder QC

(International Council for Commercial Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

It was with deep sadness and a profound sense of loss that we learned of the death of one of the world’s leading arbitrators, Van Vechten Veeder QC – more widely known as V.V. or Johnny Veeder – on 8 March 2020. For nearly three decades, Johnny Veeder lent his unique voice to ICCA’s publications,…

Advance on Costs, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, International arbitration

(Arias SLP) and (Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

It is not uncommon to encounter international arbitration cases in which one party, usually the respondent, refuses to pay the advance on costs set by the institution. This may occur when that party objects to the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal or there is a risk that the advance will not be recovered after the…

Arbitrator Intelligence, Code of Conduct, ISDS, Transparency, UNCITRAL, Working Group III

(Association ARBITRI)/ /Leave a comment
Arbitrator Intelligence

The Changing Landscape of the ISDS System The ongoing global discussions on the reform of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system have been broad in scope and covered a wide range of concerns. As previously documented on this blog, the governments participating in the UNCITRAL Working Group III – ISDS Reform (WG III) have determined…

Denunciation, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration

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For some time now, the world has seen a rise in proto-nationalism, protectionism, and even nationalization of resources. This paradigm shift when coupled with criticism being leveled against the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) system for its alleged bias in favor of capital exporting countries, make for a dangerous combination. With the ‘return of the state’…

Applicable Law, Construction arbitration, judicial review, UNCITRAL Model Law

(PotamitisVekris Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision in XPL Engineering ltd. v. K & J Townmore Construction ltd. [2019] IEHC 665, the Irish High Court decided to refer a construction dispute to arbitration on an application by the defendant, K & J Townmore Construction Ltd, for an order under Article 8 (1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law referring…

Confidentiality, Discretion, Public Entities, Public Interest, Revenue's office, Tax Obligations

, (Nanni Advogados)/ /Leave a comment

In a dispute involving the Centro Brasileiro de Mediação e Arbitragem – CBMA (“CBMA”) and the Brazilian Federal Revenue’s Office (“FRO”), the Brazilian Federal Court of Appeals prevented FRO from accessing data of arbitration proceedings administered by CBMA. The CBMA, an arbitral institution with headquarters in the city of Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio…

Anti-arbitration Injunction, Consent awards, English Arbitration Act, Injunction

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In Minister of Finance (Incorporated) & 1Malaysia Development Berhad v International Petroleum Investment Company & Aabar Investments PJS [2019] EWCA Civ 2080 (“IPIC”), Sir Geoffrey Vos, delivering the judgment of the England and Wales Court of Appeal, addressed the ambit of supervisory relief available before the English Courts under ss 67 and 68 of the…

Approbation and Reprobation, Arbitration Act 1996, England

(Enyo Law LLP)/ /1 Comment

The proverb “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” makes more sense to some people in the reverse, and it was in fact first formulated in that way in English in the 16th Century. Its point, as we are all aware, is that sometimes we have to make a choice between two options…

Arbitration, Commercial Arbitration, Jurisdiction, Merits, Venezuela

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

Recently, the Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (the “Court”) issued an interlocutory judgment ordering the Business Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CEDCA) to stay an arbitration and to forward the arbitration file in order to decide on a request for “avocamiento” filed by one of the parties before the Court. This…

Achmea, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforceability, Enforcement, ICSID, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU Investment Arbitration

(WilmerHale)/ /Leave a comment

After the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) rendered the Achmea decision, heated discussions on its impact ensued. Particularly, the concern raised on whether the ICSID proceeding provided for in intra-EU BITs and intra-EU disputes under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) would be valid. Several arbitral tribunals and national courts have dealt with…

COVID-19, International arbitration, Remote hearings

(ArbBoutique & Queen Mary University of London)/ /1 Comment

Remote hearings are nothing new, but the COVID-19 crisis has forced international arbitration out of its comfort zone. Parties, counsel, and arbitrators must adapt to the new reality of conducting proceedings in the face of travel restrictions and social distancing measures. One particularly thorny question is whether and to what extent planned physical hearings that…

Arbitration Act 1996, English Arbitration Act, English courts, Foreign Dispute, UK, Witness Statement

, (Squire Patton Boggs)/ /Leave a comment

In A and B v C, D and E [2020] EWCA Civ 409, the English Court of Appeal issued on 19 March 2020 an order compelling a non-party to arbitration proceedings seated in New York to give evidence in support of the arbitration.   The Arbitration The dispute arose under two settlement agreements between A…

Arbitration clause, Dispute Resolution, Insolvency, Stay of Proceedings, Winding Up Applications

(Advocate, Arbitrator and Mediator) and (Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore Pte Ltd)/ /2 Comments
Clyde & Co.

In the recent decision of AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Company) [2020] SGCA 33 (“AnAn“), the Singapore Court of Appeal found that when a debtor challenges a winding-up application on the basis of a disputed debt or cross-claim that is subject to an arbitration agreement, the court should apply…

Arbitrability, Iran, Public Policy, Sanctions, United States

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In January 2020, following the Executive Order of President Trump, the United States imposed additional sanctions targeting predominately Iran’s metals sector including copper, iron and steel manufactures (the “Order”). These sanctions were designed to expand secondary sanctions to cover new industry sectors such as mining, textiles and construction. The secondary sanctions aim to deter and…