The Third Upload of the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration is Now Available Online

A message from Prof. Stephan Schill, General Editor ICCA Publications

The third upload of ICCA Yearbook materials is now available on KluwerArbitration.com! It features 12 court decisions from India, Mauritius, the Russian Federation, and the United States. Ten of these concern the 1958 New York Convention, and two decisions of the Indian Supreme Court address matters of general interest to the practice of arbitration.

First, in a landmark ruling of 1 June 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States held that Chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which implements the New York Convention, did not preclude the application of equitable estoppel doctrines to extend arbitration agreements to non-signatories. To reach this result, the Court drew on the Convention’s negotiation history and its post-ratification understanding, as evidenced by the decisions of the courts of other Convention signatories.

Second, two Russian decisions that denied recognition and enforcement of foreign awards are noteworthy. In Gemperle, the Arbitrazh Court for the Moscow District held that disputes concerning the liquidation of Russian legal entities with foreign participation fell under the exclusive jurisdiction of the arbitrazh courts of the Russian Federation, and as a consequence enforcement of an award deciding such dispute was contrary to public policy. In Esterer, the Arbitrazh Court for the Ural District reviewed the merits of a German award, holding that the arbitrators had erred in finding that an obligation to make an advance payment under a contract was enforceable in arbitration proceedings.

Finally, the Indian Supreme Court granted the application to set aside a domestic majority award, finding that the majority arbitrators had violated due process and the principles of natural justice, inter alia, by relying on materials which had not been in evidence in the arbitration. However, the Court decided not to remand the dispute to the arbitrators for new examination, but to enforce the minority award instead. It did so in the interest of the speedy resolution of disputes, which it found to be one of the important objectives of the Indian Arbitration Act 1996.

Interested in further insights into the law and practice of arbitration in the countries reported in this upload? Take a look at the ICCA Handbook’s Country Reports for India, the Russian Federation and the United States.

While you’re here, you can also get to know the contributors to the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration and authors of ICCA Handbook National Reports right here on the ICCA website.