The Seychelles accedes to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
On 3 February 2020, the Seychelles became the 162nd state to accede to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards. More commonly known as the New York Convention, the Convention will come into force in the Seychelles on 3 May 2020. This follows the recent accession of Papa New Guinea and the Maldives.
The Convention requires countries which ratify to give effect to private agreements to arbitrate and to recognise and enforce arbitration awards made in other contracting states. Originally entering into force in 1959, the Convention has seen a steady up take as international arbitration becomes an increasingly popular means of alternative dispute resolution for cross-border commercial transactions. Awards issued in a contracting state generally enjoy international enforcement in other member states. The Convention is widely recognised as a foundational instrument of international arbitration.
New Zealand was the 59th state party to the Convention, acceding in 1983
ICSID case statistics 2019
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) releases case statistics annually, recently it released its 2019 statistics.
2019 saw a downward trend in case numbers. 39 new cases were registered in 2019, significantly lower than the record set in 2018 of 56. As in previous years, the majority of cases were brought under bilateral investment treaties. Arbitration were predominant, making up 35 of the 29 registered cases.
The statistics also consider the geographic distribution of cases. 26% of new cases involved state parties from South America, 18% from the Middle East and North Africa, and 16% from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. 2019 saw a decrease in the proportion of cases involving state parties from Eastern Europe and Central Asia in comparison to previous years.
Despite the change in geographic distribution, the distribution of economic sectors at issue remained steady. Oil and gas, and electric power and other energy sectors continued to dominate this measure, making up over half of new cases.
Finally, the statistics looked to the demographic of arbitrators appointed. Arbitrators from Western Europe made up the majority of appointments, followed by arbitrators from North America and South America. Interestingly, this was disproportionate to the cases involving disputes from those states. Women made up only 19% of arbitral appointments, a slight increase on 11% in 2018
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