New Upload: ICCA Yearbook Commercial Arbitration

The latest ICCA Yearbook upload is now available on KluwerArbitration.com. This upload features 20 decisions by domestic courts from Canada to Zambia on the New York Convention and other questions related to international arbitration. Here are some of our favourites.       



A must read is the decision of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal in X v. Y. The Court denied recognition and leave to enforce three awards rendered in respect of bitcoin loans concluded through an online platform. The denial was based on the public policy ground that the defendant had not been informed of the pending arbitrations. Although the court's conclusion was straightforward, this is the first time that a case concerning delocalized bitcoin arbitration has been reported in the Yearbook.

Straight from the international arbitration trivia box comes the Indian Supreme Court case Shriram EPC Limited v. Rioglass Solar SA. The Court held that the provision of the Indian Stamp Act of 1899 , which requires the payment of 'stamp duty', only applied in case of enforcement of domestic, not foreign awards. The payment of stamp duty could also not follow from Art. III of the 1958 New York Convention, which provides that higher fees or charges for the enforcement of Convention as compared to domestic awards shall not be imposed.

Finally, the decision in Castro v. Tri Marine Fishing by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which deals with an order rendered in the Philippines in respect of the settlement of future claims by a seaman may pique your interest. It defines what an “award” is under the 1958 New York Convention by referring to the relevant definitions in the American Law Institute Restatement on International Commercial Arbitration.

Interested in further insights into the law and practice of arbitration in these countries? Take a look at the ICCA Handbook's Country Reports for India, The Netherlands and the United States.