Author: Guido Carducci*
Published: December 2013
Description:
1. Signatories to arbitration agreements frequently face the risk of noncompliance by one or more of the signatories. This risk is higher in international arbitration as the international character of the dispute increases the number of available fora and enables the defaulting signatory(ies) to seek a forum in one or more foreign jurisdictions. Obtaining an anti-suit injunction by a court is a powerful means to put pressure on the defaulting signatory and avoid the commencement or continuation of proceedings before another court, in breach of the arbitration agreement. Anti-suit injunctions may support either international arbitration or court litigation depending on whether they address a breach of an arbitration agreement or of a choice-of-court clause.
2. This article deals with the following issues:
a. court-ordered anti-suit injunctions issued worldwide in support of international arbitration (Section I);
b. validity of the arbitration agreement and issuance of anti-suit injunctions internationally (Section II);
c. validity and enforcement of the arbitration agreement and court referral to arbitration (Section III);
d. well-informed decisions as to the issuance of an anti-suit injunction internationally and comity considerations (Section IV);
e. the effects of such anti-suit injunctions before the courts of E.U. Member States under E.U. law, both currently (Section V), and after the entry into force from January 10, 2015 of the new E.U. Regulation 1215/2012 of December 12, 2012 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (“Regulation 1215/2012” or “new Regulation”) (Section VI). The new Regulation is examined here only from the perspective of anti-suit injunctions. In another article, the author examines the entire contribution of E.U. Regulation 1215/2012 of …
*Law Professor (Maître de Conférences, Univ. Paris Est; Visiting Professor Univ. of Miami and of Rome (Luiss); Ph.D.s Univ. Paris II and Rome I; Diploma Hague Academy of International Law; Attorney; Chartered Arbitrator; FCIArb, Arbitrator and Conciliator in ICSID Panels; Former Chief, Legal and Treaty Section (International Standards), UNESCO.