In the case of ZL Offshore [translation] (“ZL”) v PICC P&C Shipping Insurance Operation Centre [translation] (the “Operation Centre”) and PICC P&C Zhoushan City Branch [translation] (the “Zhoushan Branch”) pronounced on 20 March 2019 (2019 Min 72 Min Chu 149), the Xiamen Maritime Court (the “Court”) of People’s Republic of China dismissed the challenge against…
The Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 (“the 2019 Amendment”), which amends the Indian Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (“the Act”), came into force with effect from 9 August 2019. The Law Minister of India was recently quoted as saying in one of the press releases (after the Bill in support of the 2019 Amendment…
Introduction The lex arbitri of Switzerland is well-known for affording parties maximum autonomy and procedural flexibility. In line with these principles, parties to international arbitration proceedings have the possibility to opt out of the otherwise applicable Chapter 12 of the Swiss Private International Law Act (“PILA”) and to opt into the statutory rules governing Swiss-seated…
Introduction There have, more recently, been a number of views on the proper scope of the jurisdiction of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) as an arbitral seat. According to one view, there are no limitations to the scope of arbitration in the ADGM, according to another, more cautious view, arbitration in the ADGM requires…
The interplay between the principle of party autonomy and procedural flexibility in arbitration greatly accounts for the growth of international arbitration as the preferred method of dispute resolution for cross-border commercial disputes. The growing trend of this preference is reflected in the most recent International Arbitration Survey conducted by the School of International Arbitration at…
With the rise of e-contracts and smart contracts in commercial transactions globally, it becomes important to analyse developments in ADR such as blockchain arbitration. The concept of blockchain arbitration is very recent and it seeks to use the advantages of the technology in dispute resolution (how blockchain arbitration works can be read here). However, one…
On 19 July 2019, Beijing Arbitration Commission a.k.a. Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC/BIAC”) released its amended Arbitration Rules (the “Rules”) and Fee Schedule (the “Fee Schedule”), both of which will take effect on 1 September 2019. An Overview of BAC/BIAC’s New Fee Schedule The amendments introduced many reforms to reduce the time and…
Kazakhstan has been making concerted efforts to increase foreign investment and to reduce its dependency on extractive industries which have long dominated production. In 2015, when it was ranked 77th out of 190 countries for doing business, the then President introduced a “100 Concrete Steps” Plan to make the country one of the top 30…
The tendency of arbitral tribunals constituted under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) to reject intra-EU jurisdictional objections, despite contrary views expressed by most EU member states, was recently continued in the case of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and others v. Kingdom of Spain (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/45).1)Decision on the Intra-EU Jurisdictional Objection, dated 25 February 2019,…
The assignment of contractual rights is a common business practice. An important question concerning the assignment of rights under a contract is the fate of the arbitration agreement related to those rights and whether it is transferred automatically to the assignee so that such arbitration agreement becomes effective and binding in the relationship between the…
Welcome to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, Mr. Rezvanian! We are grateful for this opportunity to learn more about the Tehran Regional Arbitration Centre (“TRAC”) and your experience with international arbitration in the region. To start, can you briefly introduce yourself and explain your role at TRAC? My educational background is quite diverse. I have…
Introduction The juxtaposition of laws that seemingly operate in different domains has posed a continual challenge to arbitration – conventionally, in the form of concerns over arbitrability of disputes. Here, arbitrability connotes the notion that a dispute, by its nature, is capable of being adjudicated beyond public fora, through a private tribunal chosen by parties….
Introduction The United States and its neighbor to the north, Canada, share the world’s longest border, a common language, and similar values, resulting in one of the most stable and mutually beneficial international business relationships in the world. Indeed the United States is Canada’s largest trading partner, and Canada is the United States’ second largest…
Introduction Party autonomy is the underlining principle of arbitration. The courts ought to have it in mind whenever they are called upon to intervene in matters related to arbitration. The right of parties to resolve their dispute by arbitration must be upheld and given effect to. When the judiciary acts to give effect to this…
The modern business world strives to increase efficiency – and the use of modern IT systems is a key tool in that regard. One would thus expect that arbitration, which aims to resolve disputes efficiently, would jump at the many opportunities offered by modern IT technology to truly digitalise dispute resolution. But progress has been…
1. Complex Multi-faceted Tensions between Japan and Korea A media and geopolitical storm recently erupted after Japan introduced measures affecting exports to the Republic of Korea (Korea). Thunder sounded with Japan’s imposition of certification requirements on three chemicals needed by South Korean companies to make semiconductors, memory chips and displays for consumer electronics (the 4…
Our previous posting set out the background to the current trade tension between Korea and Japan. It outlined the possibility of Japan bringing claims under a 1965 Treaty that purported to settle claims resulting from Japan’s colonisation of Korea, or under two investment treaties, regarding Korean courts recently ordering Japanese companies to pay compensation to…
Introduction The Prague Rules have been widely discussed over the past few months, among others, on this blog.1)Posts on the topic of the Prague Rules can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Yet, to the knowledge of the authors, none of those discussions has specifically addressed the application of…
States can regulate as part of their sovereignty and can give away a part of their regulatory freedom by making commitments to foreign investors, such as the obligation to compensate investors for expropriation. Unless a treaty removes or modifies a particular norm of international law, international law on expropriation, including customary law, should apply. The…
Although parties to international transactions frequently agree to arbitrate, they sometimes reconsider that commitment when a dispute arises, and look to challenge the validity of the arbitration agreement. Thanks to the separability presumption, the courts and the tribunals insulate the arbitration agreements from attacks on the underlying contract and uphold arbitration. However, the separability presumption…
As reported in earlier blog posts on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 1) See, e.g., Zoltán Novák, New Arbitration Act in Hungary, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 15 October 2017; Alexandra Bognár, Hungary: Are Interim Measures Hard to Enforce?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 18 July 2017; Ioana Knoll-Tudor, The 2018 Hungarian Arbitration Act: Implications of the New Setting Aside…
Arbitration is often used to avoid the messy processes of national litigation, sometimes involving years of appeals and hearings. But when you want to attach property to support your arbitral award, that itself can result in years-long litigation, as in the case of Stemcor USA, Inc. v. Cia Siderurgica Do Para. The delays in the…
On 7-8 June 2019, the ninth (Romanian) National Conference on Commercial Law in Cluj-Napoca was organized by the Department for Company Law and Corporate Governance of the Law Faculty of the University Babeş-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), together with the Center for Commercial Law of the West University of Timişoara (Romania), supported by the Romanian National…
It is no secret that each sport has its rules of the game with appropriate sanctions for violating them. However, it may be new for someone that sports also have its own dispute resolution system. Almost every sports organization has its own internal dispute settlement bodies, whose decisions may be appealed to Court of Arbitration…
