Art 16(3) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (“Model Law”) provides that if a tribunal issues a preliminary ruling that it has jurisdiction, a respondent may appeal the tribunal’s ruling to the relevant court within 30 days. Can a party who loses a jurisdictional challenge still set aside the final award for…
In September 2018, Tanzania took the international arbitration community by surprise when it issued its notice of its intent to terminate the Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Tanzania and the Netherlands which was set to expire on 1 April 2019 (Netherlands BIT). Article 14 (2) of the Netherlands BIT provides that…
The notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is gaining momentum in international investment law. States continue to include the CSR provisions in their newest international investment agreements (IIAs). In addition to typical CSR clauses directed at states to encourage investors to incorporate the internationally recognized standards on CSR (e.g. Argentina –Japan BIT (2018); the Australia-Hong…
In a striking new episode of the long-running Micula saga, the General Court of the CJEU has quashed the European Commission’s 2015 decision that Romania’s payment of the €178 million award rendered by an ICSID tribunal back in 2013 would constitute illegal State aid in the meaning of Article 107 of the TFEU. In its…
The Editorial Board of Kluwer Arbitration Blog announces the opening of the following positions with Kluwer Arbitration Blog: General Assistant Editor and Assistant Editor for Central Asia and East Asia. The Assistant Editors report directly to the coordinating Associate Editor and are expected to (1) collect, edit and review guest submissions from the designated…
On April 29, 2019, an ICSID annulment committee broke new ground by upholding a tribunal’s order that a party post security for costs. This decision, in the case RSM Production Corp v. Saint Lucia, is the first time that an ad hoc committee has addressed whether the ICSID Convention and Rules grant tribunals such a…
On March 27, 2019, Washington, D.C. hosted the 16th annual ITA-ASIL Conference discussing the impact of State parties in contract-based arbitrations. Also known as private-public and “investomercial” arbitration, this genre of arbitration has recently grown due to, among other things, privatization processes, concession agreements, as well as conditions imposed by lenders and insurance companies. Providing…
After facing one of the largest protests in the city’s history on June 9, and then repeated protest and clashes with police last Wednesday, the Hong Kong government suspended efforts to pass its extradition bill. The bill would have required the city’s judges to extradite criminal suspects to Mainland China with minimal safeguards and facilitated…
International trade and investment arbitration in Latin America has come a long way over the last two decades as discussed in the book Trade Agreements, Investment Protection and Dispute Settlement in Latin America. More recently, new generation trade and investment agreements entered into by Latin American states have progressively included innovative dispute resolution mechanisms, shaping…
On 22 March 2019, the Netherlands published its new model BIT (“2019 Dutch Model BIT”). The new model text may well set the scene for a new generation of investment treaties, paving the way with progressive rules on sustainable development and gender empowerment. The 2019 Dutch Model BIT is a refined version of the initial…
The Indian Supreme Court recently in M/s Icomm Tele Ltd. vs. Punjab State Water Supply & Sewerage Board, (“Icomm”), struck down a clause in an arbitration agreement as unconstitutional. The clause mandated a pre-deposit of 10% of the amount claimed in the arbitration proceeding. The Court found this clause to be arbitrary and resulting in…
In its 61th edition, the Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem [Brazilian Arbitration Journal] presents articles on four different themes. Firstly, Fabiane Verçosa comments on the possibility of submitting individual labor disputes to arbitration in the context of the reform of the Brazilian Labor Code and the rumors about the extinction of specialized Labor Courts. Afterwards, Ronaldo…
Introduction In March 2019 China’s Tianjin 1st Intermediate Court (“Tianjin Court”) rendered a decision dated 4 March 2019 (2018 Jin-01-Xie-Wai-Ren No. 1), granting an application for recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award rendered by a sole arbitrator under the rules of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (“KCAB”). The decision reflects an increasing trend of…
What is the meaning of “existence”? While theologians and philosophers continue to debate this endlessly, this metaphysical question has also concerned Indian arbitration law, specifically Section 11(6A) of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (“Act”). It was thought that the scope of a court’s intervention when appointing an arbitrator was solidified via the 2015 Amendment…
In Part I of the post, we discussed the position of law on the “existence” test under Section 11(6A) of the Act. In Part II, we aim to provide context to the developments relating to the provision and understand the larger picture of the judicial trend. But first, on the basis of the decisions discussed…
A recent court judgment confirms enforceability in Greece of a US judgment awarding USD 10 million in punitive damages The Judgment no. 722 of 2019 of the Single Member Civil Court of Piraeus paves the way to a more permissive approach as regards the enforceability of foreign court judgments and arbitral awards on punitive damages…
“We are!” yells a group in the crowd as the Penn State Law Vis moot team enters the stage excitedly after the tribunal of the final round announces its victory – the first team from the US to win the Vis moot since 2004. “Penn State!” cheers back the team, disregarding the baffled looks of…
Modern day arbitration agreements usually contain provisions that require parties to take certain steps before the commencement of arbitration. Such clauses, often described as “multi-tiered” clauses, set out a sequence for invoking the arbitration agreement. Typically, pre-arbitration steps include procedures such as time-bound mediations, amicable settlements, cooling-off periods, and other forms of non-binding determinations. Despite…
A common concern for arbitration practitioners in Africa is that when it comes to African seated arbitrations, African practitioners are underrepresented. The African Arbitration Association (AfAA) was set up as a combined vision of practitioners in the region to create a platform that would encourage and create more opportunities for greater representation of African…
The regular readers of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog will recall my blog at the beginning of this year in which I predicted that 2019 would be the ‘Year of the big Harvest’ for the European Commission regarding its efforts to permanently change the landscape of international investment law and arbitration. This posts will review the…
Introduction The Dubai International Arbitration Centre (“DIAC”) is a regional arbitration centre created by statue in 1994 as part of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the “Chamber”). On 23 April 2019, the Ruler of Dubai issued Decree No. 17 of 2019 approving a new statute for DIAC (the “New DIAC Statute”). The New…
Introduction The enforcement bar is becoming more specialized. This development follows the trend in U.S. litigation towards increasing specialization and the growth of niche practice industries; but it also stems from specific changes to the enforcement regime that are addressed in this article and that have important implications for the life-cycle of an international arbitration….
In April 2019, an Argentinean court ordered a company not to initiate an investment arbitration before ICSID based on the bilateral investment treaty between the Argentine Republic and the Republic of Chile (“BIT”). The Federal Court in Civil and Commercial Matters No. 5 (the “Court”) ordered the interim measure in a case between the Argentinean…
“In negotiations of all kinds, the greater your capacity for empathy – the more carefully you try to understand all of the other side’s motivations, interests and constraints – the more options you tend to have for potentially resolving the dispute or deadlock”. Deepak Malhotra of Harvard Business School quoted by John Sturrock in Process…
