Laws, treaties and soft law
China publishes draft revised law
TRANSLATION ADDED: On 30 July, China's Ministry of Justice published a consultation draft of revisions to the Chinese Arbitration Law that would considerably liberalise its arbitration infrastructure. Fangda Partners’ Lin Yanhua and Matthew Townsend identify some key takeaways for international parties from the recently circulated draft amendments.
09 August 2021
Ecuador: one step closer to ICSID ratification
Gary Born and Soledad Peña Plaza of WilmerHale in London consider a “remarkable” recent decision by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court that the country’s ratification of the ICSID Convention does not require the approval of its National Assembly.
16 July 2021
Ecuador to rejoin ICSID
In a major policy reversal, a new government in Ecuador has signed the ICSID Convention more than a decade after the state withdrew from the treaty.
21 June 2021
Hong Kong enacts updates to enforcement arrangements with mainland
All mainland China-seated arbitral awards are now enforceable in Hong Kong and parties can pursue parallel enforcement in both jurisdictions, after the special administrative region enacted updates to an arrangement on mutual enforcement of awards.
16 June 2021
A call for civility: ICCA publishes guidelines on standards of practice
A taskforce at the International Council for Commercial Arbitration has published guidelines on standards of practice in international arbitration to address concerns that behaviour in the field has repeatedly fallen “below minimum civility standards.”
09 June 2021
Enhancing dispute settlement and prevention in Kazakhstan
A webinar organised by the World Bank and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Justice considered the country’s efforts to improve its business and investment climate by enhancing dispute settlement and prevention mechanisms. Martin Gronemann of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg reports.
07 June 2021
Time to reform the 1996 act?
The Law Commission of England and Wales is inviting comment on whether it should review the 1996 Arbitration Act and consider introducing trust law arbitration in the jurisdiction.
12 May 2021
Peru's presidential frontrunner proposes ditching ICSID
Peruvian presidential frontrunner Pedro Castillo has pledged to withdraw the country from ICSID and other ISDS mechanisms and create a new regional arbitration centre for South American nations if he wins a runoff vote in June.
07 May 2021
ECJ adviser appears to favour contract-based ISDS
An advocate general of the European Court of Justice has advised that individual arbitration agreements between EU investors and member states are compatible with EU law – but only if final awards are subject to “comprehensive review” by member states' courts.
22 April 2021
Iraq to sign New York Convention
Iraq is to become the 168th signatory of the New York Convention after passing an accession law as part of its ongoing reconstruction programme after the US-led ousting of Saddam Hussein and the years of instability that have followed.
06 April 2021