A U.S. federal district court refused to compel arbitration in a contractual dispute concerning the supply of materials, products, and services for an oil and gas project being performed by defendants in Saudi Arabia. The parties’ agreement provided for arbitration under the now-defunct Dubai International Financial Center London Court of International Arbitration Rules (DIFC- LCIA).
International
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA): A Year into Enforcement, What Has the Solar Industry Learned?
In December 2021, President Biden signed the UFLPA into law to restrict the import of goods mined, produced, or manufactured, in whole or in part, using forced labor from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which we discussed here. A key feature of the law was its focus on polysilicon imports as a high-priority…
Grounds for Vacating an Arbitration Award Remain Extremely Limited
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision last week upholding an arbitral award, despite the failure of the arbitrators to make certain pertinent disclosures. The case involves an international arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) stemming from the design and construction of the Panama Canal expansion, which was “severely delayed and…
United States Supreme Court Closes the Door to U.S. Discovery in International Commercial Arbitration
What did the Court decide?
The United States Supreme Court resolved a split among the federal appeals courts on the question of whether private international arbitration tribunals can be considered to be either “foreign” or “international” tribunals for purposes of a federal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1782, which permits discovery from persons located in the…
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act: What It Means for the Solar Supply Chain
On December 23, 2021, President Biden signed into law H.R. 6256, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The act is intended to stem the importation of goods made with forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China (the “Xinjiang Region”) into the United States. The act…