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Domestic:
1. The First Training Program on Modern Commercial Arbitration was held at the Beijing Arbitration Commission
The first training program on modern commercial arbitration was held at the Beijing Arbitration Commission from March 28th to 30th. The program, which was sponsored by the Beijing Arbitration Commission, invited Professor Liang Haiming (Raymond HM Leung), Founding Chairman of the Institute of International Experts and Hong Kong Mediation Center, and Professor Lu Tinghua (Denys Look), a professional mediator and Managing Director of Hong Kong City Consultants Service (China) Ltd., to give lectures.
http://www.bjac.org.cn/news/view.asp?id=2028&title=&cataid=1
2. New Arbitration Rules of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission Will Come into Force on May 1, 2012
The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission has completed the amendment of its new arbitration rules after gathering opinions from various sources,, conducting many focused studies of feedback, reviewing clause by clause, and scraping a number of versions. The 2012 version of the arbitration rules of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission have been approved and adopted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade/China Chamber of International Commerce and will come into force as of May 1, 2012.
http://cn.cietac.org/Rules/index.asp
3. Theoretical Seminar on the Convergence and Improvement of Civil Procedure and Arbitration Law Was Held in Jinan
With a desire to accelerate the convergence of Civil Procedure and Arbitration Law and to improve both areas of law, a theoretical seminar on the convergence and improvement of civil procedure and arbitration law, which was sponsored by the Jinan Arbitration Commission and Jinan Academy of Arbitration Law, was held in Jinan on February 10th. The seminar was attended by Yang Jingyu, Chairman of the Law Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress, Zhang Chunsheng, former Vice Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress, Yao Hong, Director of the Office for Civil Law of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress, and the representatives of various arbitration commissions. Renowned scholars, Professor Liang Huixing and Professor Shen Sibao also attended the seminar.
http://www.jnac.org.cn/e/action/ShowInfo.php?classid=12&id=1829
International:
1. Hong Kong's Mediation Bill will provide important statutory protections
15 December 2011
Early in 2011, the Hong Kong Government's Working Group on Mediation set out to promote a wider recourse for civil disputes by establishing a legislative framework for the mediation process. Chaired by the Secretary for Justice, the group published 48 recommendations in its report of February 2010 following a 3 month consultation period. The resulting Mediation Bill was recently gazetted and introduced to the Legislative Council on 30 November 2011.
http://www.minterellison.com/Pub/NL/201112_CLAb/
2. CIArb's Costs of International Arbitration Survey 2011: the costs debate continues (Arbflash, December 2011)
21 December 2011
On 27 September 2011, the CIArb presented the results of its survey. The survey was conducted from November 2010 to June 2011 and included information on 254 arbitrations conducted between 1991 and 2010. Some of the findings were controversial, for example, the finding that arbitration is more expensive where the seat is in a civil law country rather than a common law country. Sceptics have pointed out that this has probably more to do with the fact that all figures had to be provided in sterling, the conversion from Euros to sterling having skewed the results; the survey related to the seat of the arbitration and not the governing law; and only the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were counted as "common law" countries, with all others being "civil law".
http://www.ashurst.com/publication-item.aspx?id_Content=6452
3. ICC mourns loss of Serge Lazareff
24 January 2012
ICC is deeply saddened by the death of Serge Lazareff on 21 January 2012.
A distinguished international lawyer and arbitrator, Mr Lazareff was known and esteemed throughout ICC. The frequency with which he sat as arbitrator on ICC tribunals is testimony to his mastery of what he strongly believed to be the art of arbitration. He was a staunch pragmatist and a true internationalist, both by conviction and experience, and it is these qualities, combined with his legal expertise, that made him a formidable figure in his field.
http://www.iccwbo.org/court/arbitration/index.html?id=47212
4. Court of Appeal affirms West Tankers pro-arbitration decision endorsing an arbitral award in the face of a possible inconsistent Italian judgment
27 January 2012
On 24 January 2012, the Court of Appeal handed down its keenly awaited decision in West Tankers Inc v Allianz SPA & Generali Assicurazione Generali SPA [2012] EWCA Civ 27. It has upheld Field J's decision at first instance in which the court enforced a declaratory arbitral award under section 66 of the English Arbitration Act 1996. Enforcement under s.66 allows a judgment to be entered in the terms of the award. It remains unclear, however, whether the resulting judgment could be used to prevent the recognition of any inconsistent foreign judgment in England (Article 34 of the Brussels Regulation, EC Regulation 44/2001).
http://www.herbertsmith.com/NR/rdonlyres/DB3A4E2D-7D06-471A-9DF8-8631DBB6E8D9/0/WestTankers26Jan2012.html
5. International Court of Arbitration Secretary General to step down
30 January 2012
ICC announced today that Jason Fry is stepping down as Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration to return to private practice at the law firm Clifford Chance, where he was a partner until he joined ICC in 2007. He will join the firm’s Paris office in September 2012.
http://www.iccwbo.org/index.html?id=47245
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