In Svenska v the Government of Lithuania and others the Court of Appeal dismissed the Government of Lithuania’s appeal from the decision of Justice Gloster, holding that it was subject to the jurisdiction of the court in proceedings to enforce an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration award against it.
Two aspects of the decision are of particular interest. First, the court held that by not challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction before the Danish courts with supervisory jurisdiction over the arbitral proceedings, the Lithuanian Government had lost the right to raise such challenges at the enforcement stage before the English courts. This raises important issues as to when a person who disputes that he is a party to an arbitration agreement can sit back and ignore the arbitral proceedings (or participate in them subject to a reservation) with the intention of subsequently challenging jurisdiction on enforcement.
