Welcome to our annual Asia Pacific Arbitration RoundUp.
In this annual publication, we review significant case updates and key developments in international arbitration across various Asia Pacific jurisdictions in the year 2022.
2022 continued to be a year of challenge as the region navigated the recovery from COVID. The pace of this recovery differed across countries but arbitration-related development remained active and consistent throughout the region. In China, the Supreme People’s Court published new guidance on cross-border commercial and procedural legal issues which covers common issues relating to judicial supervision of arbitration such as the validity of arbitration agreements, setting-aside of or refusal to enforce arbitral awards and recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. In Hong Kong and Singapore, legislations regarding outcome related fee structures/conditional fee agreements were enacted. A new mediation act was proposed by the Ministry of Justice in Japan and the KCAB in South Korea kicked off the review of its arbitration rules. In Thailand, the TAI issued new regulations on an e-Notice system and e-arbitration system. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, an inaugural arbitration survey report was published and in Australia, ACICA capped off the year by publishing its “Reflections on Ten Years of Activity Report”, the key findings of which are summarised in this publication.
The past year also saw a number of important judicial decisions, including the Shanghai Higher People’s Court case regarding the enforcement of a LMAA arbitral award, the landmark case of C v D in Hong Kong regarding the issue of non-compliance of preconditions to arbitration, two rare cases handed down by the Singapore Court of Appeal setting aside arbitral awards for breach of fair hearing, the first reported case under the JCAA Interactive Arbitration Rules in Japan, the landmark Korean Supreme Court decision allowing enforcement of arbitral awards granting punitive damages and the appeal of arbitral award by the state authority, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society in Thailand, all of which are covered in this publication.
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