Arbitration Team Coffee Break

News

UN Member States adopt code of conduct for arbitrators

During the UNCITRAL annual session, held in Vienna earlier this month, the UN member states adopted the Code of Conduct for Arbitrators in International Investment Disputes (CoC), jointly developed by the Secretariats of ICSID and UNCITRAL since 2017.

The CoC has not yet been published.

For more information on the steps that led to the adoption of the CoC and to be updated on its publication online, click here.

UAE: Second Edition of SCCA (Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration) Arbitration Rules released

SCCA Dubai, the first SCCA office outside Saudi Arabia, has started operating on 2 February 2023 under new Rules effective from 1 May 2023.

To have an insight of the new Rules and functioning of SCCA Dubai, click here.

The Supreme Court of Sweden confirm the Svea Court of Appeal decision on the Novenergia II v. Spain case

On 10 July 2023, the Supreme Court of Sweden issued a decision on the annulment of the arbitration award rendered in the Novaenergia II against the Kingdom of Spain, upholding the decision of the Swedish Court of Appeal.

With this decision, the Supreme Court reaffirms the principles expressed in the Komstroy and Achmea rulings of the European Court of Justice, stating that investment arbitration awards between Member States of the European Union must be considered null and void.

Could this be the beginning of the end for intra-EU investment arbitration?

To read the Swedish Supreme Court’s decision, click here.

Portuguese Parliament debates the state’s withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty

Following the European Commission’s proposal for a coordinated withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty the Portuguese Parliament is in the process of approving its withdrawal.

On 18 July the Portuguese Minister for the Environment and Climate Action announced the pending bill.

Portugal will join the list of European countries that have already announced their intention to withdraw from the Treaty. However, the European Commission’s proposal is still pending approval from the EU Council.

Publication of new report and guide by ICC

The ICC’s Commission on Arbitration and ADR released a guide and a report on 3 July 2023 aimed at raising awareness of different dispute resolution techniques and facilitating the resolution of disputes in international arbitration.

In particular, the Guide on Effective Conflict Management is a useful tool to assist practitioners in selecting the most appropriate ADR technique for each case and how to use it to avoid escalation.

The Report on Facilitating Settlement Disputes in International Arbitration proposes ways to resolve disputes once arbitration proceedings have begun.

Both the Guide and the Report are freely available and can be downloaded here.

Luxembourg Arbitration Reform

On 19 April 2023 the new Luxembourg Arbitration Law (amending Title I of Book III of the New Code of Civil Procedure) was adopted and came into force on 22 April 2023.

In order to boost Luxembourg as a seat of international arbitration, the reform aims at enhancing the efficiency of arbitral proceedings in Luxembourg-seated arbitrations, by granting arbitral tribunals the power to issue interim measures, by the establishment of a support judge whose mission is to help the arbitration proceedings (juge d’appui), and by setting out a more liberal regime for the enforcement of arbitral awards.

Events

Armenian Arbitration days – Yerevan, Republic of Armenia, 4 September 2023

On 4 September 2023, the “Increasing Business Confidence in a Globalized Economy through a State-of-the-Art International Commercial Arbitration Disputes Regime” conference will be held at  the Armenia Marriott Hotel. The Conference will focus on construction, energy, climate change, and financial disputes as well as new developments in dispute resolution. Registration is open until 25 August 2023.

Certificate in International Commercial and Investment Arbitration - Rome, 18-22 September 2023

Between the 18 and the 22 of September 2023, the 10^th edition of the Certificate in International Commercial and Investment Arbitration will be held. The event is jointly organized by the University Roma Tre and Associazione Italiana per l’Arbitrato (AIA), in cooperation with the Milan Chamber of Arbitration (CAM) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). There will be several discussions addressing the field of international commercial and investment arbitration and will see the participation of renowned practitioners and arbitration experts.

Getting ready for the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days – Berlin, 12-15 September 2023

Join the Berlin Dispute Resolution Days between 12 and 15 September 2023. Organized by the DIS (German Arbitration Institute), this year’s edition will feature insightful conferences and events, discussing current and future trends and topics of international dispute resolution. Check out the list of events here.

GAR Live: Vienna 2023 –13 October 2023

The 5th edition of GAR Live: Vienna, organized in association with the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), the Austrian Arbitration Association, and the Young Austrian Arbitration Practitioners is going to take place on 13 October 2023. After the welcome address, which will be given by Alma Zadic, Austria’s Minister of Justice, a keynote speech will be delivered by King’s College London’s emeritus professor of law, Richard Which KC. Eminent practitioners will then address several hot topics, before and after the networking lunch, such as the obligation for arbitral tribunals to apply EU competition law as part of public policy ex officio. Later in the afternoon, an Oxford style debate will take place. Click  here to register.

CAM Annual Conference – Milan, 24 November 2023

Save the date for the Milan Chamber of Arbitration’s Annual Conference, which will take place in Milan, Italy on 24 November 2023, and stay tuned for the upcoming programme of this year’s edition!

Book Review

Cordero-Moss and Fernández Arroyo (eds.), Applicable Law Issues in International Arbitration, Brill, 2023

The volume collecting the results of the research conducted during the 2021 edition of the Center for Studies and Research in International Law and International Relations of the Hague Academy of International Law will be published on 15 August 2023.

Edited by the two Directors of Studies, professors Giuditta Cordero-Moss (University of Oslo) and Diego P. Fernández Arroyo (Sciences Po Law School), who also wrote the general introduction, the book contains the contributions (in English or in French) of sixteen scholars and/or practitioners who are part of the Center (L’arbitre et les sources du droit applicable au fond. Une vision générale, by Apollin Koagne Zouapet; Party autonomy and normative limits: a study of legal restrictions on the selection of the applicable law to the merits, by Ana Coimbra Trigo, Comment les arbitres déterminent-ils le droit applicable au fond en arbitrage d’investissement?, by Didier Bationo; Les lois de police étrangères à la loi choisie par les parties, by Wendinkonté Sylvie Zongo; Comment les arbitres interprètent-ils les traités Internationaux? by Ali Kairouani; Methodological consistency in the interpretation of international treaties in investor-State arbitration – an empirical study, by Nicola Strain; Iura novit arbiter Sources and practice, by Andrea Mackielo; Le fabuleux destin de iura novit arbiter – les fables de l’aigle à deux têtes et du livre de sable, by Alexandre Senegacnik; “No matter how egregious”: misapplication of the law and manifest excess of powers in ICSID arbitration, by Ludovica Chiussi Curzi; Validity of the arbitration agreement, by Giulia Vallar; La détermination par les parties des règles applicables à la production et l’admissibilité des preuves: entre coopération et compétition, by Marco Buzzoni; Le secret des correspondances entre les avocats et leurs clients, by Yağmur Hortoğlu; L’octroi et l’exécution de mesures provisoires, by Paola Patarroyo; Arbitrability, by Erik Sinander; Res judicata, by Federico Cabona; Applicable law issues on arbitrators’ civil liability, by Lito Dokopoulou) as well as those of Professors Franco Ferrari (NYU School of Law), “Plures leges faciunt arbitrum”, and Luca G. Radicati di Brozolo (ArbLit), “Domestic law and conflict of laws: what should their role be in international arbitration?”.

As the back cover goes: “The broad spectrum of approaches reflected upon in this volume confirms that determining the applicable law in arbitration is a manifold task that needs to balance the involved interests, which are not necessarily always consistent with each other. The uncontroversial starting point is the primacy of party autonomy. Important also is the arbitral tribunal’s discretion. Party autonomy and arbitral discretion, however, are not absolute, and do not exist in a vacuum: arbitral awards are subject to (a restricted) court control. To be valid and enforceable, arbitral awards need to comply with (fewer) requirements. The selection of the law applicable to any given issue reflects this plurality of interests, and is the result of balancing the parties’ expectations against court control and the arbitral tribunal’s independent powers, all this in the safeguard of predictability, consistency and legitimacy. Featuring original work from leading young scholars from around the world and provides an innovative vision”.