In National Investment Bank Ltd v Eland International (Thailand) Co. Ltd and another [2022] EWHC 1168 (Comm), the English High Court considered the interaction between sections 72(1) and 18 of the English Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act“). Section 72(1) allows a non-participating party to an arbitration to seek a declaration from the English Court as … Read more

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

In Africa Finance Corp and others v Aiteo Eastern E&P Company Ltd [2022] EWHC 768 (Comm), the English Commercial Court ruled that a 13 month delay in seeking an anti-suit injunction was not unreasonable given that the parties were engaged in negotiations during that period and the foreign proceedings in Nigeria had not advanced to … Read more

The Judiciary of England and Wales has published the Commercial Court Report 2020-2021 (The Report). These reports are released annually to give an overview of the courts’ work and decision-making. For arbitration practitioners, they also provide insight into the number of applications made before the English court to challenge arbitral awards and how these applications are … 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

In Tagli’apau v Amrest Holdings and al. (Cass. Civ. 1ère, 9 February 2022, No. 21-11253), the French Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower courts to decline jurisdiction in favour of arbitration. It did so on the grounds that the jurisdictional challenge was inadmissible because it had been raised by the parties who had … Read more

In 2013 the English Court introduced provisions into section O of the Commercial Court Guide designed to deter parties from mounting “speculative” challenges of arbitral awards on the grounds of serious irregularity under s68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) (see our blog post here). Small additional changes were also made in 2017. Yesterday … Read more

In the recent decision in LLC Agronefteprodukt v Ameropa AG [2021] EWHC 3473 (Comm), the English Commercial Court (the ‘Court’) dismissed a jurisdictional challenge under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the ‘Act’), finding that a single Notice of Arbitration validly commenced separate arbitration proceedings. The decision is of particular interest given that the … Read more