Doing business in Africa?

Linklaters alongside our collaborative alliance firm Webber Wentzel recently hosted a Mitigating Risk in Africa seminar in Johannesburg . Our international arbitration teams across Africa and Europe, together with key global arbitration centres, presented the latest insights into how the international arbitration landscape is evolving. We also discussed how corporates and banks can react to these changes and best manage their business risks while, at the same time, contribute towards growth and sustainability on the African continent.

The draft Cybersecurity Protocol for International Arbitration has been published by the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Working Group on Cybersecurity in International Arbitration. Accessible here, the protocol does not specify particular measures to be included in arbitration agreements or procedural orders, but instead proposes a framework for developing cybersecurity measures appropriate to each individual case. Written comments should be submitted to cybersecurity@arbitration-icca.org no later than 30 September 2018.

The LCIA has announced that, as of 27 July 2018, its joint venture with the Mauritian Government which established the LCIA-MIAC arbitration centre will come to an end and that, consequently, as of that date LCIA-MIAC will also no longer be operational.

In summer 2017 we launched Arbitration Links, our blog (and Linklaters’ first) dedicated to reporting on developments in international commercial arbitration and investment arbitration. Please do watch, and share, this short video celebrating Arbitration Links's first birthday.

In this video blog, Matthew Weiniger QC, our Global Co-Head of International Arbitration, takes a look at one of the oft-cited advantages of smart contracts and distributed ledger technology; namely their ability to reduce, or even eliminate, the potential for disputes. Matthew examines whether this is really true, and why parties should still be thinking about building conventional dispute resolution mechanisms into such structures.

Last month, Dispute Resolution Partner and Global Co-Head of International Arbitration, Matthew Weiniger was interviewed, together with Professor Campbell McLachlan of the Victoria University of Wellington, by The Arbitration Station.  They were discussing the second edition of their book International Investment Arbitration – Substantive Principles, co-authored with Laurence Shore. In the interview, Matthew and Campbell describe their objectives behind the text and how developments have shaped investment arbitration in the 10 years since the first edition was published.

The Linklaters International Trade Practice has launched a regular blog that will look at a wide range of topics that span the area of international trade including Brexit and its impact on the UK’s international trade position, trade wars, tariffs and trade disputes.

The revised OHADA Uniform Act on Arbitration (the Arbitration Act) and revised Rules on Arbitration of the Joint Court of Justice and Arbitration (the CCJA) (the Rules), as well as the new Uniform Act on Mediation (the Mediation Act), entered into force on 15 March 2018. The fruit of nearly two years of consultations among the 17 Member States of the Organisation for the Harmonization of Corporate Law in Africa (OHADA), these new acts will apply to all proceedings initiated as of such effective date. These acts had all been approved on 23 November 2017 by the OHADA Council of Ministers.

The international arbitration landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa is changing at a rapid rate. This blog entry looks at key legal developments in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa over the past few months, many of which could be seen to be enhancing the ability of the region’s countries and fora to deal with international disputes expeditiously and efficiently. We also offer our view on the future of the international investment regime in the region.