Catch Me If You Can: The Proliferation of Anti-Suit Injunctions in Volatile Times

Presentation

Anti-suit injunctions have become a high-stakes game of jurisdictional pursuit, with courts and parties racing to outmaneuver each other amid growing geopolitical and regulatory volatility. For example, in the intra-EU investor-state arbitration context, Member States are attempting to “catch” adverse awards before they are enforced outside the EU. The European Commission has taken the position that the payment of such intra-EU awards constitutes illegal state aid, and Dutch courts have penalized parties that continue intra-EU investment treaty proceedings after Komstroy.

The chase has also intensified in disputes involving sanctioned entities. Russian courts has reportedly relied on Article 248 of the Russian Arbitrazh Procedural Code over 200 times since 2024 to block foreign arbitral proceedings and enforcement. Meanwhile, the English courts, among others, issued anti-suit and anti-enforcement injunctions against parties seeking to rely on Russian judgments.

Are we witnessing an erosion of judicial comity regarding international arbitral awards as parties increasingly forum-shop across jurisdictions? And in this volatile landscape of cross-border enforcement clashes, who will catch whom, and at what possible cost to the efficiency and effectiveness of international arbitration?