Derains & Gharavi International

Noticias

March 2014

Conferencia Latinoamericana de Arbitraje

Yves Derains intervendrá durante la “Conferencia Latinoamericana de Arbitraje (CLA)” organizada por el CEDEP, el IBA & la Corte Internacional de Arbitraje de la CCI en Punta Cana (República Dominicana) los 29 y 30 de mayo de 2014.

COLOQUIO SOBRE LOS PRINCIPIOS UNIDROIT

Yves Derains intervendrá durante el coloquio dedicado a los principios UNIDROIT: “20 Years of Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts: experiences and prospects” que tendrá lugar en Roma los 9 y 10 de mayo de 2014.

Ethical Standards in investment arbitration

Yves Derains intervendrá durante la conferencia “Ethical standards in investment arbitration: challenges in practice”, organizada por la Universidad Internacional de Florida (FIU), Africa International Legal Awareness (AILA) y el Instituto Latinoamericano de Arbitraje (ILA) en Miami el 9 de abril 2014.

22mo Congreso del ICCA

Melanie van Leeuwen presidirá una de las sesiones dedicadas al tema siguiente : “Arbitral Legitimacy: the users’ and judges’ perspectives” durante el 22mo congreso del ICCA que tendrá lugar los 6, 7 y 8 de abril de 2014.

Young Arbitrators Forum – ICC YAF Conference

Melanie van Leeuwen intervendrá durante la conferencia Young Arbitrators Forum – ICC YAF sobre el tema siguiente: “What happens behind the scenes once you’ve made it in?” el 3 de abril de 2014 en París.

Derains & Gharavi asesor en un procedimiento de anulación CIADI

La compañía Kilic Insaat ha selectionado Derains & Gharavi como asesor en el procedimiento de anulación del laudo CIADI rendido en el caso Kilic Insaat Ithalat Ihracat Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi v Turkmenistan (Caso CIADI no. ARB/10/1). GAR exponga los hechos en un artículo del 5 de febrero de 2014:

A Turkish construction company that lost an ICSID claim against Turkmenistan for failing to observe a local courts requirement has instructed new counsel in its bid to have the award overturned. 

In its annulment application dated 13 January, Kilic Insaat alleges that the tribunal relied on an incorrect translation of a bilateral investment treaty when it ruled last July that the dispute should first have gone to the Turkmen courts. 

The company has retained Derains & Gharavi for the annulment proceeding, with partner Hamid Gharavi acting as lead counsel. In the arbitration, it used London-based public international law boutique Volterra Fietta and Turkey’s Çetinel Law Firm. 

In its annulment application, Kilic accuses the tribunal of manifestly exceeding its power by disregarding the language of the Turkey-Turkmenistan BIT and the intent of the signatory parties, and by not interpreting the BIT in accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. 

The company also accuses the tribunal of imposing jurisdictional requirements that did not exist under the applicable law, of failing to state reasons for its decisions, and of committing a serious departure from a fundamental rule of procedure. 

As previously reported in GAR, a tribunal chaired by Canadian J William Rowley QC rejected jurisdiction over Kilic Insaat’s claims in July, holding that it had failed to first submit its dispute to local courts as required under the Turkey-Turkmenistan BIT. 

The panel also ordered Kilic to pay Turkmenistan US$1 million to cover half of the “reasonable” legal costs associated with the case, as well as 75 per cent of the arbitrator fees and administrative costs relating to a May 2012 partial award on the authenticity of different versions of the BIT. 

In its annulment application, Kilic argues that the tribunal relied on an incorrect English-language translation and interpretation of the “authentic” Russian version of the BIT, which was provided by Turkmenistan’s translator; and the opinion of a Turkish linguistics expert who was not a native English speaker. According to Kilic, the translation and opinion provide a mandatory requirement that the dispute be heard in local courts before initiating arbitration, while the “authentic” English and Russian versions of the BIT provide that the dispute can go to arbitration even if the investor has not submitted the case to local courts and a final award was not rendered within one year. 

In other words, Kilic argues that the presence of the word “if” in the dispute resolution clause shows that the BIT’s signatories intended to give an option to the investor either to have direct recourse to international arbitration, or to bring the dispute before the local courts. 

The claimant refers to the translator and linguistics expert as “hired guns” of Turkmenistan and suggests that the tribunal relied on their opinions simply to make the BIT “more correct and elegant from a grammatical point of view.” 

Moreover, Kilic alleges that Turkmenistan failed to submit any documentary or testimonial proof that Turkey and Turkmenistan intended to impose a mandatory recourse to local courts, while the claimants submitted three documents evidencing Turkey’s intent for optional recourse to local courts. Kilic argues the tribunal exceeded its powers and departed from a fundamental rule of procedure by placing the burden of proof on the claimant, rather than the state. 

“It is extraordinary that both contemporaneous and contemporary evidence in relation to the Turkish State’s intent and interpretations moreover given by the competent Turkish state organ […] was given no or very little value,” reads the annulment application. 

The application also compares the linguistic similarities between the Turkey-Turkmenistan BIT and Turkey’s other BITs, particularly those signed with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Kilic notes that the ICSID tribunals in the Rumeli and Sistem cases, brought by Turkish investors against Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan respectively, did not find that these other BITs contained a mandatory recourse to local courts. The company also argues that Turkey’s intent for optional recourse to local courts in its BITs is evidenced by the fact that Turkey has never relied on mandatory recourse as a jurisdictional defence when it is the respondent in investment treaty cases.

Turkmenistan continues to be represented by a team from GAR 30 firm Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle, as well as Yurttutan Gürel Yörüker Law Firm in Turkey.

Curtis partner Peter Wolrich says, “Turkmenistan firmly maintains that the distinguished tribunal rendered an exceptionally well reasoned award, correctly applied the law and did not exceed its powers. This will be fully demonstrated in the course of the annulment proceedings.”

Derains & Gharavi aparece en la segunda banda de la clasificación de arbitraje internacional del Legal 500 Paris 2013-2014

En la guía de referencia Legal 500 Paris que acaba de publicarse, Derains & Gharavi vuelve a figurar como uno de los mejores despachos de arbitraje internacional de París: ”Derains & Gharavi délivre ‘des prestations de première qualité’ et peut s’appuyer sur ‘un réseau international de conseils très solide’. Boutique française d’arbitrage, le cabinet n’affiche pas moins une ‘forte compréhension des différentes cultures’; l’équipe est fortement internationale dans sa composition et constituée d’avocats ‘très ouverts d’esprit’. Le cabinet gère de grands dossiers en provenance de toutes les parties du globe et a remporté plusieurs succès majeurs dans des affaires d’investissement de premier plan. L’équipe représente Repsol et Gas Natural dans un arbitrage CNUDCI aux enjeux financiers très importants l’opposant à Sonatrach et portant sur un contrat d’exploitation de gaz liquéfié. Le cabinet agit également pour le compte d’Oxus Gold dans un autre dossier CNUDCI l’opposant à l’Ouzbékistan concernant des investissements dans le secteur minier. Yves Derains est un arbitre de forte renommée qui intervient aussi en qualité de conseil dans les dossiers ; Bertrand Derains cumule une forte expérience en tant que conseil et arbitre ; le ‘très impressionnant’ Hamid Gharavi est ‘extrêmement pragmatique, percutant’ et ‘capable de résoudre des situations complexes selon les systèmes civiliste et de common law’; enfin la ‘très engagée, travailleuse et compétente’ Melanie van Leeuwen ‘connaît ses dossiers sur le bout des doigts et a l’œil pour les détails’.”

Página 16 de 17« Primera...10...1314151617