In June 2019, the Constitutional Court of Colombia (the “Court”) issued a communication summarizing its decision on the Free Trade Agreement between the Republic of Colombia and the State of Israel (the “FTA”) signed on September 30, 2013. The Court adjudged that the FTA is compliant with the Colombian Constitution but warned that if the…
Background The ICC Commission on Arbitration has recently published a report on Emergency Arbitrator (“EA”) Proceedings (“Report”) that promises to “offer guidance to users, counsel and EAs to facilitate the use of EA proceedings through increased transparency and predictability”. The Report analyses the 80 cases in which the ICC EA procedures have been used in…
Disputes, particularly arbitration, has been predominated by the old pale male. Diversity, though a hot topic, is something that the arbitration field is still striving to achieve. What many would like to see is that all people, male or female, are appointed whether as an arbitrator or a counsel based on their credentials. However, as…
The Effects of Achmea on the Prospective EU Member States Much ink has been spilt on of the aftermath of the CJEU Achmea decision which has turned the world of arbitration on its head. In-depth analysis and commentary were previously featured on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog as well. Following the decision of the CJEU and…
In a landmark decision rendered on May 15, 2019, the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice rejected the argument that transmission of an arbitration agreement via subrogation violated public policy. The Court thus gave full effect in Brazil to a foreign arbitral award resulting from a transmitted arbitration agreement. The decision sets the “law of the…
We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Lucy Greenwood, Revisiting Bifurcation and Efficiency in International Arbitration Proceedings In 2011, the author published an analysis of available empirical data on bifurcation of disputes in this journal. The article, ‘Does Bifurcation Really…
Mediation and arbitration are often categorized as separate and distinct fields for good reason. Arbitration is an adjudicative process; mediation, on the other hand, is more accommodating, dependent on negotiation among parties. There is a formality attached to arbitration that one usually does not find in mediation. While the arbitration process is prescribed by rules,…
For the first time, the High Court held in its decision in the Rinehart dispute that the ordinary principles of contractual interpretation must be applied when interpreting the scope of arbitration clauses. While this approach is consistent with modern contractual interpretation, it may deter parties from selecting Australian law to govern arbitration agreements. This post…
As the backbone of globalization, the shipping industry is at the heart of cross-border transportation networks that support supply chains and facilitate international trade. In the MENA region, the maritime sector is a significant industry. In order to manage the rise in foreign trade, both governments and the maritime industry have increased investment into the…
The Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly spread to Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, and other countries of the Arab World in 2011 and 2012. As I wrote in a 2015 Kluwer Arbitration Blog post, The Evolution of Arbitration in the Arab World, the uprisings of the Arab Spring and the political…
On 23 May 2019, the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI) hosted the 15th IFCAI Biennial Conference in Helsinki. The International Federation of Commercial Arbitration Institutions (IFCAI) organises the “IFCAI Biennial Conference” every two years in cooperation with an IFCAI member arbitration institution. This year it was hosted by the FAI in lieu…
Introduction On April 2, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) and the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) signed the Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Arrangement”). This…
In Part I of this post I discussed how the Arrangement excluded ad-hoc arbitration and how it raised certain issues on jurisdiction of the courts. In Part 2, I discuss other aspects of the Arrangement. Interaction between Arrangement and CICC The interaction between the Arrangement and the China International Commercial Court (“CICC”) is also…
Ever since its inception, investment arbitration has benefited from a perception of self-contained ecosystem that does not interact with any other normative subject matter. Investor-State tribunals for the most part have been reluctant to accommodate the application of non-investment obligations and treaties, claiming either lack of jurisdiction over such claims, or affirming upfront that non-investment…
The Latin Lawyer – GAR Live 3rd Annual Arbitration Summit took place on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 (the “Summit”). Practitioners from the United States and Latin America gathered for a third consecutive year in Miami to discuss the importance of dispute boards in constructions contracts, the issue of social licenses, the challenges facing the energy…
Arbitration is often used to resolve financial disputes in China. For example, China’s financial regulation organs, i.e., People’s Bank of China, China Securities Regulatory Commission, China Insurance Regulatory Commission and China Banking Regulatory Commission, each have made efforts in promoting the use of arbitration in their regulated areas of business. Data released by the Ministry…
The main concerns of parties when considering arbitration are the costs and length of arbitration proceedings (see, e.g., Queen Mary University of London 2018 International Arbitration Survey). The popularity of arbitration as a method of resolving construction disputes thus depends largely on whether costs can be reduced and efficiency maintained. This is particularly the case…
Reflecting on fallout from economic and geopolitical turmoil since the financial crisis of 2008, the 31st Annual ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting, held in Dallas on June 19-21, 2019, focused on how to adjudicate changed circumstances in international arbitration. Keynote speakers and panelists engaged in lively debates on how domestic and international legal principles on…
Corruption in the context of international arbitration is at the forefront of current discussion and analysis. At the same time, innovative efforts to obtain evidence in the U.S. through 28 USC § 1782 to support or counter a wide variety of international (i.e. non-U.S.) cases continue to evolve (including its recent extraterritorial application discussed more…
Dr Ismail Selim, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog! We are grateful to have the opportunity to share your unique perspective with our readers. 1. Could you give our readers a brief introduction to yourself and your route to becoming Director at CRCICA? I graduated from Cairo University in 1997…
The relevance of intellectual property in business is on the rise, in particular concerning cross-border transactions. Accordingly, the willingness to defend such rights is also becoming stronger. Disputes concerning intellectual property rights are traditionally mainly dealt with before national courts. Yet, in recent years there has been a considerable shift towards arbitration. The acknowledgement that…
A common concern for parties when opting for an African country as a seat of arbitration is the extent of judicial intervention in the arbitration. Whilst certain African national courts have swayed back and forth between exercising sovereignty and upholding party autonomy in arbitration there is a positive inkling that African national courts are more…
During the London International Dispute Week in May this year (which was covered at the Kluwer Arbitration Blog in depth, see here), a panel on “energy disputes in a disruptive world” focused on the increasing prevalence of claims against energy companies in relation to climate change or for involvement in human rights impacts. I had…
Introduction In the recent Hong Kong decision of Dickson Holdings Enterprise Co Ltd v. Moravia CV and Others [2019] HKCFI 1424, the court considered whether the arbitration agreement contained in the parties’ shareholders’ agreement covered disputes arising from any affairs of the company. As elaborated below, the decision is instructive for how similar arbitration agreements…
