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India enacted major legislative reforms in 2016 through amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996 and a new Model Bilateral Investment Treaty to streamline dispute resolution. Author Rishab Gupta reviews key developments including court-assisted tribunal constitution, strict timelines for award rendering, and narrowed public policy grounds for vacatur. The post evaluates both positive statutory shifts and lingering operational challenges affecting domestic and international arbitration in India.

The last week of November 2016 was an eventful and rather paradoxical week for India. While India and Brazil successfully concluded negotiations for a new Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”), the India-Netherlands BIT expired.

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Brazilian arbitration law establishes that the Civil Procedure Code does not automatically apply to arbitral proceedings unless specifically agreed upon by the parties or directed by the tribunal. The article examines the fundamental autonomy of the arbitral tribunal to determine procedural rules under the Brazilian Arbitration Act without default reliance on state judicial procedures. This legal distinction protects the flexibility, speed, and procedural efficiency intended by international and domestic commercial arbitration in Brazil.

In the last fifteen years, the use of arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution method has grown in Brazil. Not only has the arbitration law been declared constitutional, but also parties have continuously provided arbitration clauses in their contracts, and national courts have issued rulings recognizing the jurisdiction of arbitrators…

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The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge and institutional initiatives have increased appointments of female arbitrators, yet progress remains uneven regarding generational diversity and party appointments. The article analyzes institutional statistics and procedural strategies designed to expand tribunal diversity beyond senior established practitioners. It highlights actionable mechanisms to ensure broader representation of women and younger arbitrators across international commercial and investment proceedings.

On 19 September 2016, Freshfields hosted an ICC YAF event at its London offices on gender diversity in arbitration and the Pledge for Equal Representation in Arbitration (“Pledge”), a topic which has been the centre of discussions on panels organised by ArbitralWomen around the world. The Pledge initiative, orchestrated by…

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The Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge launched a dedicated search service to assist parties, counsel, and institutions in identifying qualified female arbitrators for appointments. The article outlines how this initiative aims to overcome the information gap often cited as a barrier to gender diversity in international arbitration. By offering tailored candidate lists based on specific criteria, the ERA Pledge Search Service facilitates greater inclusion of qualified women across international dispute proceedings.

The Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge (“Pledge”) launched on 18 May 2016 in London had the effect of a snowball that grew bigger and bigger since Sylvia Noury and her colleagues at Freshfields organised dinners around the world, to discuss the under-representation of women arbitrators and the need for…

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The Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge launched in London on May 18, 2016, to increase the appointment of female arbitrators on an equal opportunity basis. Mirèze Philippe details how the initiative originated at ICCA 2014 and evolved through international consultations into a global commitment signed by over 500 individuals and 70 organizations. The article outlines key action items, including publishing gender statistics and ensuring balanced candidate lists.

The launch of the Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge on 18 May 2016 in London marks a historic moment in international arbitration. The Pledge is a call to the international dispute resolution community to commit to increase the number of female arbitrators on an equal opportunity basis. All players…

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The European Union introduced the Investment Court System (ICS) as a permanent bilateral mechanism to replace traditional investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in international trade agreements. The analysis examines key structural features of the ICS, including a standing roster of publicly appointed judges, an explicit appellate mechanism, and enhanced transparency standards. These institutional reforms aim to address public concerns regarding arbitrator independence, consistency, and legitimacy in treaty disputes.

On 12 November 2015, in the context of its negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and in a bid to address growing criticism of investment treaty arbitration, the European Commission made a formal proposal for a reformed approach to investment protection and an apparently more transparent system…

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The Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) established a modern arbitration framework in Turkey governed by its own arbitration rules designed to meet international standards. The article reviews ISTAC's structural features, including its fast-track procedure, emergency arbitrator provisions, and competitive fee schedule. By positioning Istanbul as a regional seat for dispute resolution, ISTAC offers an efficient venue for domestic and cross-border commercial disputes in Eurasia.

A new arbitration institution has opened its doors and has already started to register its cases in Istanbul. The Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) has become operational in the third quarter of 2015, offering to its users a set of arbitration and mediation rules, along with emergency arbitrator and Fast Track…

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Vis Moot participants and legal practitioners launched an outreach initiative in Cambodia to foster capacity building and legal education in international commercial arbitration. The article highlights how former mooties collaborated with local universities and institutions to train Cambodian law students and legal professionals. This project demonstrates the impact of educational initiatives in developing local arbitration expertise and expanding dispute resolution infrastructure across emerging jurisdictions.

A few weeks ago, a small team of educators gathered in Phnom Penh for the second Vis East Moot Foundation Capacity Building Programme (VEMF-CBP) for Cambodian law students. What made this programme different from other occasional, one-off forays into Cambodia by dozens of NGO’s and law firms is that this…

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Online arbitral proceedings retain their legal seat (place of arbitration) regardless of where physical hearings, servers, or virtual platforms are geographically located. The article addresses concerns surrounding virtual hearings by clarifying that the juridical seat determines the applicable arbitration law, annulment jurisdiction, and award nationality under the New York Convention. Distinguishing the physical or virtual location from the legal seat maintains jurisdictional certainty in international commercial arbitration.

Hypochondria is defined as an excessive preoccupation with one’s health, usually focusing on some particular symptom. Could excessive preoccupation about the place of arbitration in online dispute resolution be assimilated to hypochondria? Are discussions that we hear from time to time and recently during the electronic conference on Technology in…

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When a state court overturns an arbitral tribunal's preliminary award on jurisdiction, arbitrators face complex procedural choices regarding their continued mandate and liability for costs. The article explores whether tribunal members can resume proceedings on the merits if higher courts reverse the setting-aside ruling, or whether they must issue a final award terminating the dispute. This analysis highlights practical dilemmas surrounding tribunal authority, res judicata effects, and cost allocation after set-aside decisions.

There are a number of questions that influence how arbitration treats cases in which an award is challenged successfully. A court overturns an award declining jurisdiction, but what’s next? The authors argues that the easy and most practical answer would be for the arbitrator to resume the case and render…

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