The pending adoption of the 2017 Dubai International Arbitration (DIAC) Rules feels like a scene from Samuel Backett’s Waiting for Godot: having been announced and in essence launched at DIAC Arbitration Week in November 2017, the 2017 DIAC Rules are presently still awaiting assent from the Ruler of Dubai and have therefore not yet formally been adopted. As a result, the DIAC Rules 2007 continue to apply.
Following the now infamous Achmea judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in March 2018, which declared the use of the investor-state arbitration clause in the Netherlands-Czechoslovakia bilateral investment treaty (BIT) (as it then was) incompatible with EU law, the EU member states quickly issued political declarations in which they announced their intention to terminate all their intra-EU BITs.
As we discussed in our previous contributions, arbitration can be an interesting dispute resolution mechanism in the context of insolvency proceedings, in particular given the facilitated enforcement of international awards. That said, insolvency proceedings often involve mandatory provisions and the active participation of state courts and public authorities. The state will therefore not necessarily allow all aspects of insolvency proceedings to be settled by arbitration but, on the contrary, reserve a considerable part of the process to the exclusive jurisdiction of state courts.
On 11 August 2020, the LCIA published the first update to its arbitration rules since 2014. The 2020 Rules are not a wholesale rewrite of the 2014 Rules, but rather a set of amendments designed to address gaps in the 2014 Rules, and to ensure that the rules remain up to date and fit for purpose in an increasingly virtual era of arbitration. Continue reading
In Alexander Brothers Ltd (Hong Kong SAR) v Alstom Transport SA and another, Cockerill J, sitting in the English Commercial Court, upheld an order granting enforcement of an ICC award. The respondent, Alstom, had argued unsuccessfully that enforcement of the award would be contrary to public policy, since there were “indicia” of corruption in the performance of the underlying contracts and any sums paid under the award might go to finance bribery. Continue reading
Successful appeals under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) are like buses; none come along for a while and then you get two in quick succession. Continue reading
The eighth edition of the East Africa International Arbitration Conference, which was originally due to take place in Zanzibar, has now been re-organised as an entirely virtual event taking place between 26 to 28 August 2020. Continue reading
The eighth edition of the East Africa International Arbitration Conference, which was originally due to take place in Zanzibar, has now been re-organised as an entirely virtual event taking place between 26 to 28 August 2020. Continue reading
The eighth edition of the East Africa International Arbitration Conference, which was originally due to take place in Zanzibar, has now been re-organised as an entirely virtual event taking place between 26 to 28 August 2020. Continue reading
A recent judgment handed down by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, considered the approach the court should take when a winding up petition is presented with regard to a debt that is not admitted and where the debt is subject to an arbitration agreement.