Bombay High Court issues an injunction against arbitration
proceedings
On 17 September the Bombay High Court issued an anti-arbitration
injunction in the case of MSM Satellite (Singapore) Pte Ltd.-v-
World Sport Group (Mauritius) Limited. The injunction prevents
a contractual dispute from being referred to arbitration despite
the presence of an arbitration clause in the contract. The court
gave three reasons for its decision. First, fraud had been alleged
against one of the parties. Second, the contractual agreement
between the parties, regarding the television rights to the Indian
Premier League cricket tournament, was held to be against Indian
public policy. Third, the Board of Control for Cricket India, a
party whose attendance would be required at an arbitration, was not
a signatory to the arbitration agreement. It is likely that an
appeal against the injunction will go to the Supreme Court.
LCIA India receives its first case
The London Court of International Arbitration India received its
first referral in May of this year, only a month after it published
its arbitration rules. It is not clear as to whether it is
administering this case itself or whether it is acting as
appointing authority at the request of another arbitral
institution, where the parties cannot agree on the appointment of
arbitrators. Other referrals have been rumoured but in these cases
the parties would appear to have settled.
India to reform commercial dispute resolution
system
As part of a widespread reform, the Indian Government is proposing
to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. The amendment
being considered is the introduction of a provision into the Act
under which, for all commercial contracts of a value over Rs.5
crore (approximately US$1m), an arbitration agreement will be
incorporated as an implied term. Such a provision would clearly see
a huge number of contract disputes dealt with by arbitration rather
than the courts. It is worth noting, however, that at the moment
parties would be given the opportunity to opt out of such an
arbitration agreement.
Russian court refuses to enforce ICC award
The Commercial Court of Tomsk has refused to enforce an award of
over US$117m by the ICC on an arbitration between Tomskneft and
Yukos Capital, two of the former subsidiaries of Yukos Oil Company.
The award for recovery of debt arising from loans made from Yukos
Capital to Tomskneft was declined on public policy grounds, with
the court finding that the dispute was a "sham from the
outset". The court noted that Tomskneft had funded the loans
to itself through transfer pricings within the Yukos group. The
court also refused enforcement on another ground, that Tomskneft
had not been given due notice at several stages of the arbitral
proceedings.
Australian International Disputes Centre opens in
Sydney
A new international dispute centre opened at the start of August in
Sydney. The Australian International Dispute Centre will look to
compete with Hong Kong and Singapore as an Asia-Pacific arbitration
destination. The opening comes shortly after a series of amendments
to Australian arbitration law designed to improve effectiveness,
efficiency and affordability of international arbitration on home
shores.
KLRCA adopts UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 2010
The Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA) has
adopted the new UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 2010, becoming the first
centre to adopt the revised rules. The KLRCA was established in
1978 under the auspices of the Asian-African Legal Consultative
Organization (AALCO), an inter-governmental organisation comprising
47 governments of the Asian and African region, in co-operation
with the government of Malaysia.
Please click on the links below for the other articles in
the October 2010 Arbflash:
Contact
Ronnie King
T: +44 (0)20 7859 1565
E: ronnie.king@ashurst.com
This publication is not intended to be a comprehensive review
of all developments in the law and practice, or to cover all
aspects of those referred to. Readers should take legal advice
before applying the information contained in this publication to
specific issues or transactions.