Available Now: the ICCA Yearbook Commercial Arbitration Volume L

ICCA is proud to present Volume L (2025) of the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, available in print, as well as online on Kluwer Arbitration, marking a significant milestone as the fiftieth volume of this flagship ICCA publication.

A Half-Century Milestone: From Foundations to Future
 
This golden anniversary volume marks the culmination of half a century of evolution, reflecting the growth of international commercial arbitration from an emerging specialized field to a sophisticated global dispute resolution mechanism. When Volume I was first published in 1976, the Yearbook’s mission was to gather scattered, scarcely accessible materials for a small community of specialists. Fifty years later, the Yearbook has adapted to a landscape of information abundance, shifting its role from a comprehensive repository to a trusted resource for the selection, curation, and contextualization of the most significant developments in the field. As it enters its second half-century, the Yearbook remains committed to its essential purpose of providing the clarity and context essential for navigating the complexities of modern transnational law and arbitration.
 
Global Coverage of Arbitration Jurisprudence
 
Volume L continues the Yearbook’s specialized focus as the core reporter for court decisions relevant to international arbitration and transnational law that apply the major arbitration conventions or address issues of general interest to the practice of international commercial arbitration.
 
In keeping with its mission to provide a truly global perspective, Volume L features court decisions from a diverse array of jurisdictions, including substantive new updates and reporting from Moldova, as well as a regional spotlight on Africa, with decisions rendered by the courts of Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda. The Volume further extends its reach with decisions from Hungary, Iran, Israel, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. This expanded coverage is complemented by continued in-depth reporting from established arbitration hubs such as Brazil, China, India, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as critical rulings from high courts in the United Kingdom and the United States.
 
Major Themes in Volume L
 
In this fiftieth Volume, a primary theme across the reported decisions is the treatment of sovereign immunity, specifically regarding when state participation in the 1958 New York Convention and the 1965 ICSID Convention constitutes an implied waiver of protection. Another area of focus is the validity and law governing arbitration agreements, with courts frequently addressing whether an agreement is ‘in writing’ when transmitted via modern means like email or fax. Furthermore, the selected jurisprudence captures high-level integrity issues, including the impact of corruption on contract validity and the procedural complications introduced by martial law. This Volume also documents that the integrity of the process remains a critical concern, with several cases involving procedural due process—specifically issues related to proper notice and the right to a fair hearing—and the impartiality of arbitrators, often centered on potential biases arising from business relationships. Finally, the ‘group of companies’ doctrine continues to be a point of focus, with landmark rulings addressing the circumstances under which nonsignatories may be bound to an arbitration agreement.
 
Jurisdictional Updates Highlights
 
Among the highlights is a substantial update of the Yearbook’s reporting from Spain, prepared in cooperation with the Madrid International Arbitration Center - Ibero-American Arbitration Center (CIAM-CIAR). In eight decisions rendered between 2022 and 2024, the courts of Madrid, Valencia and Granada have dealt with enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. In all decisions except one the Spanish courts have granted recognition of foreign awards, dismissing objections across various procedural, public policy, and arbitrability grounds. The only refusal was based on procedural invalidity—specifically, the enforcement petition being directed against a non-party guarantor rather than the actual award debtors.
 
The Yearbook’s coverage of Brazil was further expanded with seven decisions rendered in 2024, in which the Superior Court of Justice consistently granted enforcement, addressing due process objections as well as issues concerning the arbitral procedure or the effect of issue preclusion regarding foreign court findings on the existence or validity of an arbitration agreement.

Comprehensive reporting also continued for China, with eight decisions rendered between 2017 and 2024 and addressing issues such as the applicable law to the validity of arbitration agreements, arbitrability, due process and the formal requirements of arbitration agreements.

The General Editor of the Yearbook gratefully acknowledges the essential role that the international arbitration community has been playing for decades in compiling court decisions from around the globe. This year, the systematic reporting ensured by the newly appointed Yearbook Rapporteurs has further contributed to the Yearbook’s comprehensive coverage and continued excellence as an authoritative resource for practitioners and academics studying the evolution of international commercial arbitration practice.
 
Research Tools
 
The Yearbook’s reporting on court decisions is complemented by three indexes, which consolidate the information extracted from each decision, making navigation easier and offering different angles of consultation: first, a Table of Instruments, introduced in 2023 and providing an overview of all legal instruments, and their individual provisions, discussed in the decisions reported in the volume; second, the Yearbook’s long-established topic-based Index of Cases on the New York Convention; and finally, an Index by Subject Matter, also introduced in 2023, detailing the different issues addressed in each decision.
 
Recent Developments and Publications
 
The 2025 Volume further contains announcements of new arbitration rules and of recent developments in the law and practice of several countries, as well as a comprehensive bibliography prepared in cooperation with the Peace Palace Library.