The seminar opened with a keynote speech by Mr Adrian Lai JP, Deputy Secretary-General and Co-Convenor of the Advisory Board of AAIL. He explained how different stakeholders play a role in sanctions-related court cases and arbitrations, including potential legal and operational issues caused by overlapping sanctions regimes.

The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by Dr Alice Meissner (Chair, European Chinese Arbitrators Association) and Mr Jacky Fung (Senior Associate, Freshfields). Panellists included Mr Robert S. Pé (Arbitrator & Mediator, Arbitration Chambers), Ms Sherlin Tung (Consultant, Withers), Mr Tobias Vollmer (Partner, Raedas) and Ms Tiana Zhang (Head of International Business, HOZU Capital). Together, the panellists considered the boomerang effect of sanctions from the perspectives of arbitrator, counsel, asset-recovery practitioner and third-party funder.

The discussion explored how sanctions risks may affect the choice of arbitral seat and enforcement forum, and potential procedural issues arising from sanctions. It also considered recognition and enforcement of awards, including asset restructuring or concealment (and whether parties might try to intentionally move assets into a sanctioned jurisdiction to avoid and/or delay enforcement), compliance challenges involving banks and other intermediaries, funders’ approaches to sanctions-related cases, and asset preservation and recovery strategies.

Two hypothetical sanctions-related arbitration scenarios were used for live audience polling and discussion, with one concerning commercial arbitration and another concerning investment treaty arbitration. The scenarios explored asset preservation, regulatory approvals and enforcement across jurisdictions. They also considered claim assignment by a sanctioned party to a non-sanctioned party, sanctions licensing regime, sanctions circumvention and lawful payment channels.