On February 6, 2013, Achmea (a Dutch insurer, better known by its former name, Eureko) initiated UNCITRAL arbitration proceedings against the Slovak Republic on the basis of the Agreement on encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (the “Netherlands-Slovakia BIT“) [The Agreement on encouragement and reciprocal protection of investments between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic was signed on 29 April 1991 and came into force on 1 October 1992.] These proceedings appear to be of a new kind: aimed at preventing a likely expropriation [Achmea press release "Achmea [...]

A recent decision of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (“STJ”) has ruled, for the first time, on the issue of the concurrent jurisdiction of national courts and arbitral tribunals with respect to the making of interim measures (Itarumã Participações S.A. v Participações em Complexos Bioenergéticos S.A. – PCBIOS, Resp no. 1,297,974-RJ). The decision is significant in shedding light on a topic not addressed by the Brazilian Arbitration Act, and reassures the view that, where there is an arbitration agreement, the national courts may only intervene to support arbitration and in exceptional circumstances.

Facts

Itamurã Participações S.A. (“Itarumã”) entered into a join [...]

On 16 May 2012, the Court of Appeal of England & Wales (“CA”) dismissed an appeal against an anti-suit injunction restraining three insured entities from pursuing proceedings in the Brazilian courts against their insurers (Sulamerica CIA Nacional De Seguros SA v Enesa Engenharia SA [2012] EWCA Civ 638). This is the latest in a series of decisions in Brazil and in England & Wales testing the approach of the courts in both jurisdictions to the enforcement of arbitration agreements in circumstances where there are contradictory provisions in the contract.

A consortium of Brazilian construction companies (the “Insureds”), working as the contractor for the construction of one of the world [...]

A commentary on the OECD Competition Commission conclusions on using arbitration to effectively resolve competition law disputes
By Francesca Richmond and Sarah West

There has been increasing use of arbitration to resolve disputes involving competition law issues in recent years. However, it is surprising that the number is not even greater given that arbitral processes are particularly suited to this type of complex, multi-jurisdictional dispute. Claimants can be nervous that the validity of such awards might be challenged on public policy grounds, however, in practice there are only limited circumstances in which a civil claim based upon competition law is likely to also engage public p [...]

Yograj Infrastructure Ltd. Vs. Ssang Yong Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. (on 1 September 2011)

As reported in this blog, in May 2011 the Supreme Court of India (SCI) moderated the controversial principle it established in 2002 that allowed the Indian courts to intervene in arbitrations held outside of India unless that possibility was expressly excluded by the parties (see Videocon Industries Ltd. Vs. Union Of India & Anr. (2011) 6 SCC 161). In a decision which should be welcomed by the international legal and commercial communities, on 1 September 2011 the SCI further restricted the scope for the Indian Courts to interfere in international arbitrations seated outside the country in i [...]

As I write this blog, a team from CMS has been working hard on the next edition of the CMS Guide to Arbitration. As with the previous edition, the Guide will include chapters on arbitration written by practitioners from across Europe and beyond. It will also identify, as with many arbitration texts, resource material, including details of most of the well known arbitration institutions, plus some less well known institutions.

Compiling a list of the ‘main’ institutions has been an interesting and somewhat political task. There are the undisputed ‘global’ institutions which have almost universal recognition (which I shall not name for fear of missing any out), yet there are many more [...]