In Belokon v. Kyrgyzstan (Cass. Civ. 1ère, 23 March 2022, No. 17-17.981), the French Supreme Court upheld the 2017 decision of the Paris Court of Appeal to set aside a $15 billion UNCITRAL award rendered in favour of Latvian investor Valeri Belokon (Belokon) in a dispute with the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (the Award). According to … Read more

Turkmenistan has become the 170th state party to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the Convention), having acceded on 4 May 2022. The Convention will come into force for Turkmenistan on 2 August 2022. Turkmenistan has made a number of reservations and declarations, meaning that it will only … Read more

In Ducat Maritime Ltd v Lavender Shipmanagement Inc [2022] EWHC 766 (Comm), the English High Court set aside part of an award under section 68(2)(a) of the Arbitration Act 1996 on the grounds that an ‘obvious accounting mistake’ by an arbitrator had breached the duty of fairness under section 33 of the Arbitration Act 1996. … Read more

Kei (a protected party by his litigation friend) v Hua She Asset Management (Shanghai) Company Ltd [2022] EWHC 662 (Comm), before Miss Julia Dias QC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Commercial Court). The English High Court restated the principles applicable to a section 103 application under the Arbitration Act 1996 (the … Read more

The Commercial Court has rejected an attempt to challenge an LCIA award on grounds of serious irregularity under section 68(2)(a) of the Arbitration Act 1996: Livian GmbH v Elektra Ltd and another [2022] EWHC 757 (Comm). The Court held that the contention that the Tribunal had overlooked undisputed witness testimony could not form the basis … Read more

In Arjowiggins HKK2 LTD v. X Co [2022] HKCFI 128, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance set aside an arbitral award on the basis that it fell outside the scope of the parties’ submission to arbitration. Specifically, the award contained an order on an issue which had not been raised, or pleaded, by the … Read more

In the recent decision of General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v State of Libya [2022] EWHC 501 (Comm) the English Commercial Court refused to set aside an arbitration enforcement order against the State of Libya. Because the case considers issues of state immunity, the article can be found on the HSF Public International Law Notes blog … Read more

In DHL Project & Chartering Ltd v Gemini Ocean Shipping Co., Ltd [2022] EWHC 181 (Comm), the Commercial Court has set aside an arbitral award under s67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act“) on the basis that the arbitral tribunal lacked substantive jurisdiction. The case concerned a “subjects” provision which required “shipper/receiver’s approval“. The … Read more