Dear Friends,
Spain’s ratification of the New York Convention and the subsequent enactment of the 1988 Arbitration Law (Ley de Arbitraje) marked a sea change in the legal framework governing the institution of arbitration in Spain, and allowed this country to decisively take its place in the world of arbitration through the inclusion of arbitration agreements in contracts, the choice of Spain as an arbitration venue, and the creation of administrative arbitral institutions that have deservedly won the respect of all throughout these years.
The new Arbitration Law, enacted at the end of 2003 and based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, represents a fresh, ringing endorsement of international arbitration.
Against this backdrop, the Spanish Arbitration Club (CEA) has been working to meet its goals of promoting arbitration within the business and legal communities, serving as a forum where experts on the subject can exchange ideas, promoting study and scientific research on the legal institution of arbitration, drawing up a set of good arbitration practices, and championing the advantages offered by Spain as an international arbitration center.
Particularly noteworthy among the Club’s activities were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd International Arbitration Congresses staged in 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively, and the success of those gatherings has led us to take the decision to make the Annual Congress a regular, institutional event for exchanging ideas and experiences.Without a shadow of a doubt, the economic crisis has currently taken center stage globally. With this in mind, arbitration can and must play a pivotal role as a positive means with which to soften the blow of the crisis. It therefore seemed fitting for us to be debating, under the heading of “Arbitration in the Economic Crisis”, issues as significant and topical as legal certainty in times of crisis; problems, solutions and trends in investment arbitration; the arbitrability of competition law-related disputes; as well as issues as closely linked to this new state of affairs as the role arbitration must play in the crisis in relation to contracts or in situations of technical and legal insolvency, without losing sight of the increasingly relevant question of injunctive relief and the mandatory enforcement of arbitral awards.
This is the aim of the 4th International Arbitration Congress being held in Barcelona from June 21 to June 23, 2009, at which preeminent speakers from various countries will be analyzing the issues referred to above – an analysis that will be further enriched by the experiences that participants will be able to share at the round tables arranged for this purpose.
We wish, once again, to thank His Majesty the King for lending his support to our initiatives, as well as express our gratitude to the Cataluña Autonomous Community Government, the Barcelona Municipal Council, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and the Barcelona Bar Association for their collaboration, as we also do to all the moderators and speakers, all of whom are eminent figures from the world of business, the judiciary and the legal profession.It is a pleasure to welcome you to Barcelona and to our Congress, and we trust that you will have both an enjoyable stay and a rewarding professional experience.
With warm regards,
Antonio Hierro
Chairman, Spanish Arbitration Club
Chairman, Spanish Arbitration Club
Julio González Soria
Chairman, Organizing Committee
Honorary chairman