Cour de cassation, First Civil Chamber, 11 February 2009, Laviosa Chimica Mineraria v Afitex - French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
Philippe Pinsolle is a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Paris, and specializes in international arbitration. He has been involved, as counsel or arbitrator, in more than a hundred and fifty international arbitrations, both institutional (ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SCC, AFA, Swiss Rules, etc.) and ad hoc, concerning such activities as investment, oil and gas, energy, telecom or defense industry. He is a member of the Paris Bar and of the Bar of England & Wales (Gray's Inn). He is a lecturer on international arbitration at the Universities of Aix-Marseille III, Versailles-St Quentin and Paris 12. Mr. Pinsolle is the former President of the International Arbitration commission of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and a co-founder of the Young Arbitration Practitioners (YAP). He is the author of numerous articles and case-notes on international arbitration. He holds a J.D. degree from the university of Paris II, a M.Jur. from Oxford University, Hertford College, and an MBA degree from Essec.
Professor Thomas Clay is the Dean of the Versailles Law School and Director of its LLM in International Arbitration in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the only French-language program in international arbitration. A member of the French Arbitration Committee and of the International Arbitration Institute and other institutions, Professor Clay is the author of various books and articles on arbitration, including "The Arbitrator", a treatise on the duties and obligations of arbitrators. He writes a regular column Arbitration Law in the weekly legal journal Dalloz. He also participates in numerous conferences throughout the world on international arbitration and has an extensive practice in arbitration in French, Spanish, English and Italian, collaborating with the ICC, other French institutions, the Milan Arbitration Court, and in Africa and South America. He is also member of the Jurisdiction of Professional Soccer League and Arbitrator in the French Sport Arbitration Chamber.
Thomas Voisin is an Associate in Shearman & Sterling's International Arbitration group. He has advised on numerous commercial and investor-State arbitrations. He is a member of the Paris Bar. He graduated from the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and holds an M.Jur. from Oxford University.
Originally from French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
In light of the komptenz-kompetenz principle, according to which arbitrators have jurisdiction to rule on their own jurisdiction;
Whereas on 12 May 1997 Laviosa Chimica Mineraria (hereafter Laviosa), a company incorporated under Italian law, and Afitex, signed a contract according to which the former entrusted the latter with exclusive rights over the sale of its products in France; that this contract provided that it was valid for a one-year probation period and that it contained an arbitration agreement; that the liability of Afitex, insured by Axa, was sought before a commercial court by Cognac TP, due to the fact that a sealing system provided by Afitex and manufactured by Laviosa, which joined as a guarantor, were faulty; that the commercial court dismissed the objection to jurisdiction raised by Laviosa;