INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 1/3LY
NEWS IN BRIEF 47
MARKET ACTIVITY
CLYDE & CO OPENS IN BRISBANE
PALESTINE ACCEDES TO THE NEW YORK CONVENTION
Clyde & Co strengthens Australian regional expertise by opening a fourth office in Australia. The Brisbane office will commence operations no later than March 2015 with the team comprising of Partners Matthew Pokarier, Jacinta Long and Maxine Tills who were lateral hires from Australian firm Sparke Helmore. The office will have a disputes focus with significant experience across the insurance, accounting, financial services, engineering, construction and corporate sectors. The firm is looking to hire a further 20 lawyers in Brisbane this year which will boost the firm’s staff in Australia to over 100.
Whilst Palestine is not universally recognised as a state, the accession has been enabled by Palestine’s membership of UNESCO. The UN has confirmed that the convention will enter into force for Palestine on 2 April 2015, bringing the total number of states to have ratified the convention to 154. EUROPEAN COMMISSION PUBLISHES REPORT ON RESULTS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE INCLUSION OF ISDS PROVISIONS IN THE TTIP The online consultation, which looked at twelve issues addressing investment protection and ISDS, received 150,000 replies from the public. Within the report (published on 13 January 2015) the Commission has identified four areas which appear to be of particular concern to the public: the protection of the right to regulate; the establishment and functioning of arbitral tribunals; the relationship between domestic judicial systems and ISDS and; the review of ISDS decisions for legal correctness through an appellate mechanism. CHINESE COURT GRANTS JURISDICTION TO SHIAC AND SCIA FOLLOWING SPLIT FROM CIETAC The decision to grant jurisdiction to SHIAC on cases which have named the CIETAC Shanghai sub-commission (its predecessor) as the administrator of disputes, was granted by the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court on 31 December 2014. This was closely followed by a similar decision made by the Guangdong Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, which allowed a dispute to be heard at the SCIA, wherein its predecessor CIETAC’s South China sub-commission was named in the arbitration agreement.
ICC LAUNCHES NEW EXPERT RULES
The ICC New Expert Rules come into effect on 1 February 2015 and provide guidelines on how parties can utilise ICC experts and neutrals to resolve cross-border disputes. The rules were launched in January with three roadshows in Dubai, London and New York.
SINGAPORE ESTABLISHES THE SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL COURT The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) officially opened on 5th January 2015, in response to an increase in commercial activity in the region and a subsequent increase in commercial disputes. THE SICC complements the existing Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), strengthening Singapore’s standing as a regional hub for dispute resolution.
CIETAC LAUNCHES NEW RULES FOR 2015
The revision of the 2012 Arbitration Rules came into effect on 1 January 2015. The new rules seek to incorporate both best practice in international arbitration and the needs of parties that are arbitrating at CIETAC. The rules include a revision of twenty articles of the former rules and ten new articles. The new rules are available on the CIETAC website www.cietac.org
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker