Investment in renewable energies is a vital part of the global strategy to address climate change. Many States provide strong support and incentives to encourage investments and accelerate the growth of this sector. Other States, such as Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, have withdrawn incentives or subsidies that were offered. Such regulatory changes have had a detrimental impact on the development and growth of renewable energy. There may be minimal, or indeed no scope,…
The Federal Court of Australia (FCA) has enforced two ICSID awards against the Kingdom of Spain (Spain) in…
Introduction The courts are often requested to enforce an arbitration agreement by granting a stay of court proceedings. …
AUSTRALIA Jo Delaney and Charlotte Hendriks A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation International arbitration continues to be governed by the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) (IAA). There have been no further amendments to the IAA this year. Australia has entered into two new free trade agreements, one with Indonesia and one with Hong Kong. The Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement entered into force on 17 January 2020. The Australia-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) has…
On 31 October 2018, Australia was the 6th country to ratify the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific…
This excerpt originally appeared in the Baker McKenzie International Arbitration Yearbook 2017-2018. The Yearbook comprises reports on arbitration…
Petitioner, Trina Solar US, Inc. (“Trina”), is a California company that manufactures and sells solar panels. In 2012, Trina began negotiations with Respondents, Australia-based Jasmin Solar Pty Ltd. (“Jasmin”) and Nevada-based JRC-Services LLC (“JRC”), for the sale of such solar panels. JRC acted in tandem with Jasmin in negotiating the purchase of solar panels from Trina. In November 2012, JRC executed a written sales contract (“Contract”) with Trina to purchase the solar panels. Jasmin was…
Australian courts will not lightly set aside arbitral awards, including on public policy grounds. The recent case of…
Perhaps the most high-profile case in the debate over investor-state arbitration in recent years has been the investment…
Have you heard of the arbitration guidelines of the Law Institute of Victoria? Neither had Justice Croft when, in Robotunits Pty Ltd v Mennel, he had to consider an arbitration agreement that referred disputes to arbitration in accordance with these fictitious guidelines. This case demonstrates that Australian courts will uphold arbitration agreements where there is clear intention to refer disputes to arbitration even if the arbitration clause is poorly drafted. Background Mr Mennel and Robotunits Pty…