University of Macau / Faculty of Law

No description available.

The settlement of petroleum expropriation disputes has been a challenging issue in the petroleum industry since the earliest cases. The issue, principally, relates to foreign investors' right to investment protection and the sovereign right of states, the clash of which causes such disputes. Striking a balance between these conflicting rights in order to save the disputants' relationship is a critical concern given the interdependent relationship of disputants which manifests itself in a cyclical manner. This in turn highlights the importance of finding a suitable dispute resolution method to reach the most appropriate and balanced resolution from both parties' viewpoint. Impartiality is, in this context, a key element when determining the most suitable method for resolving expropriation disputes. This is so considering that the reason for the abandonment of diplomatic protection and litigation as methods for resolving expropriation disputes was concerns over their partiality towards one of the disputants. Currently, with the proliferation of investment treaties, treaty-based arbitration has become the most popular method for resolving such disputes. However, the suitability of treaty-based arbitration is criticised as a process which is likely to be partial in favour of investors and their investment protection rights. Such a partiality is likely to be found in treaty-based arbitration's origin, substance and procedural aspects. Therefore, it can be argued that there is room for mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method to be adopted and supplemented arbitration for settlement of petroleum expropriation disputes. In fact, mediation enjoys various qualities which makes it especially attractive for such disputes, including its time and cost efficiency, its ability to explore win-win settlement options and to save the disputing parties' relationship, and the flexibility and collaborative nature of the process. More importantly, its self-determination principle is a feature which guarantees the impartiality of mediation. However, mediation, like other dispute resolution methods, is not without its disadvantages. It faces challenges with regard to its voluntary and non-binding nature, confidentiality, its inability to deal with the political overtones of petroleum expropriation disputes, its retarding effect on jurisprudence development and disputants' lack of familiarity with the process. Nonetheless, having proposed some solutions to these shortcomings, this thesis concludes that mediation should be used and encouraged more systematically for resolving petroleum expropriation disputes.

The thesis is dedicated to the issue of the legal status of arbitrator in international commercial arbitration. Arbitration is not a new phenomenon, much of its development has taken place in the 19th century, when alongside with arbitration ad hoc an institutional arbitration has also been created and permanent arbitration courts were established. The best known permanent arbitration court is undoubtedly the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. The first chapter focuses on the insight into the history of arbitration. Certain terms relating to arbitration are defined in the first chapter in particular the concept of international commercial arbitration. The question of arbitrability, ie. admissibility of arbitration, is also addressed there. In the second chapter the types of arbitration are analyzed - ad hoc and institutional arbitration, facultative and obligatory arbitration, traditional and online arbitration, international and domestic arbitration; as well as different types of arbitration agreements - agreement on an arbitrator, the arbitration clause, unlimited compromise, asymmetric, pathological and combined arbitration clause. The third chapter is dedicated to the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration compared to proceedings in...

This thesis focuses on the recent development of international commercial arbitration in international and national sphere. The aim is analysis and description of new trends in this field taking into account their implementation in legal system of the particular states and in the sources of international law. The structure of this thesis is composed by six chapters. The introductory chapter concentrates on the concept of international commercial arbitration, on its historical and theoretical bases. The advantages and disadvantages of the international commercial arbitration as the extrajudicial solution of the conflict are also covered in this chapter. Consequential chapter defines sources of law which apply to this juridical institute. It is divided into three sections according to its origin and also its function of these sources. This chapter closely describes eventual recent modification in the mentioned sources of law. The third chapter covers fundamental principles of the arbitration and its reflections. The explanation is focused on recent expressions of these principles. Second part of the thesis analyses the process of realization of international commercial arbitration. Its organization is described in the chapter four which deals with main instruments enabling process of arbitration....

This thesis analyses how and to what extent the contractual and treaty instruments interact in protecting upstream energy contracts against political interference by the host state. The study considers whether the interaction between the upstream contracts and international investment treaties provide effective protection for the upstream investors and whether the interaction between them prevents the host state from exercising its regulatory rights. By examining both jurisdictional and substantive aspects of the interaction between these two instruments, the study found that political risks in the upstream industry are not effectively mitigated and managed. The study therefore calls for a higher degree of interaction between these two instruments. This can be achieved by drafting the relevant upstream contracts and investment treaties in a more interactive manner so that they would together provide maximum protection for the upstream investors.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

Arbitrability of dispute and International Commercial Arbitration - Summary Bc. Martin Svatoš The objective of this thesis is to explain the issue of arbitrability of disputes in an international commercial arbitration, especially to compare the Czech and the foreign approach. The thesis consists of three chapters, each of them dealing with different aspects of arbitrability. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the thesis: especially the definition of arbitrability and the question of choice-law. It addresses the issue of the institution deciding the objection of arbitrability and the distinction between the subjective and objective arbitrability, too. Chapter Two concerns the subjective arbitrability. The approach of subjective arbitrability argues whether the State or state entities could be a part of arbitration agreement. However, this claim was questioned by some states and some authors. It examines relevant Czech and other legislations, especially the legislation of states with relatively hostile approach to subjective arbitrability, e.g. Iran. It concerns the old approach of Belgium, too. It presents the approach of denial of justice by several states. Finally, it provides an outline of relevant case law and illustrates the today's point of view by important award...

The main aim of this thesis is to explain the substance and function of intervention of the national courts in international commercial arbitration, explanation of its necessity and notice of possible danger connected to it. Besides describing all the principal situations when national courts usually participate in the proceedings, the attention is also given to concrete legislations and fundamental differences between them. The main focus is on Revised UNCITRAL Model Law of December 2006, which influenced the significant part of national legislations. Limitedly the thesis also deals with legislations and case-law of the United States of America, Great Britain, France and Germany. There is also clarified the specifics of the Czech national legislation at the end of the chapters. The thesis is divided into two logical units. At the beginning of the first part you can find an introduction to international commercial arbitration in the form of a brief historical excursus, an explanation of differences between the court proceedings and arbitration, a description of particular kinds of arbitration and an enumeration of both Czech and international sources of law. The main part of this chapter is formed by a general specification of fundamental principles and terms related to international arbitration. The second...

This diploma thesis deals with the latest trends in international commercial arbitration. Specifically, it focuses on transparency in international investment arbitration and third-party funding in international commercial arbitration. The objective of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive interpretation of a gradual development of these trends and to also give potential Czech readers an idea about present hot topics in international arbitration coming mostly from foreign sources of bibliography. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter dedicates itself to defining arbitration in the context of various dispute resolution methods and provides its basic comparison to international arbitration. At the same time, it offers an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of this type of dispute resolution and it discusses the principles of confidentiality and privacy of arbitration proceedings. The second chapter is divided into two main parts. The first one is focused on defining key terms of the specific area of international investment arbitration, including different regimes of treatment of international investments in order to protect them. It also includes a detailed description of the most important sources of international investment law and further discusses ways to...