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The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof,”OGH”) dealt in its decision under the docket 18 OCg 1/19z with an application to set aside an arbitral award issued by an ad hoc arbitral tribunal under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. The OGH dismissed the invoked violation of procedural ordre public. It held that the applicant was precluded from relying on defects in the arbitral tribunal’s reasoning because it did not file a request for clarification. Factual background The present…

In its landmark decision under docket no. 18 ONc 3/20s[1], published on 28 September 2020, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof “OGH”) established two important principles for arbitral tribunals seated in Austria: The conduct of hearings via videoconference – despite a party’s express objection – lies within the arbitral tribunal’s discretion and does not meet the high threshold of arbitrator challenges. (RS0133230)[2]A negative, non-verbal reaction (here: “eye rolling”) of an arbitrator to a verbal pleading…

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (‘CETA’) between the European Union and Canada was signed October 30, 2016. The deepening of Canadian and European trade is likely to be significant in the wake of Brexit and the uncertain future of American trade policy. The Investment Court System (‘ICS’) of CETA has been hotly debated, and in 2016 threatened to derail the entire agreement when the local Parliament of Wallonia, Belgium initially vetoed the agreement. The…

In three similar decisions of 17 March 2015[1] the Austrian Supreme Court (“OGH”) clarified how insolvency proceedings may affect an already pending arbitration. In a nutshell, the OGH held that Section 7 Bankruptcy Act, which provides that all pending proceedings in which the debtor is the claimant or the respondent are (automatically) stayed upon the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings, also applies to arbitral proceedings. Additionally, the OGH gave guidance on the question when arbitral proceedings…