International Arbitration on Maritime and Foreign Investment Law

An international conference on London Maritime Arbitration and Foreign Investment Law was held at Kemerburgaz University on 15 May 2014 in Istanbul. 

The topics addressed to the public were mainly drafted and delivered by the professionals of A&T Law and Consultancy.

The topic of our founding Partner Professor Dr Vehbi Selim Ataergin was about Some Issues on Application of English Arbitration. In his submission he put forward some bullet points, particularly about the mistakes the conflicting parties made in applying London Arbitration such as the complaining on high expense of the London Arbitration, difference between the Arbitration Act 1996 and The LMAA Terms (London Maritime Arbitration Associations), the importance of the time bar and application period issues, the advantages of applying London arbitration instead of going for the litigation, the peculiar separation of chairman and umpire and beneficial enforceability of London maritime arbitration awards.

The topic of our consultant, Assistant Professor Andrea Lista was about Arbitration Clauses and Ship Arrests. In his speech, he referred to English court decisions such as The Rena K, which was the earlier decision, and The Indian Grace was the precedent decision. He also referred to The Irina Zharkikh and The Comandate as a case law post The Indian Grace (No.2). He also referred to Transnet Ltd v The Owner of The Alina II case by discussing an action in rem against the vessel, which was followed by an action in personam against the owner of The Alina II (the total claim exceeded the value of the vessel). If the ship-owner personally liable on the underlying claim defends the action in rem, then in personam jurisdiction is thereby also established.

The topic of our consultant, Assistant Professor David Collins was about Dispute Settlement in International Investment Law. He mainly focused on ICSID procedure by discussing while ICSID has been an immensely successful forum for the resolution of investor-state disputes in international investment law. ICSID tribunals regularly deal with matters of significant public concern. He also suggested that the members of ICSID tribunals are not well disposed to hear matters of broad public concern because they are essentially businessmen whose expertise is really in international commercial arbitration. This is why many argue that there should be greater room for non-party participation in the proceedings, or there should be some kind of appellate oversight, possibly composed of a standing court (maybe something like the WTO Appellate Body).