State immunity: anti-suit injunctions against states

In his important and clearly reasoned judgment in UK P&I Club NV and Another v Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela (The RCGS Resolute) [2022] EWHC 1655 (Comm), Sir Ross Cranston has ruled that English law does not permit the grant of an anti-suit injunction against a state which has - in contravention of an arbitration agreement - sought relief in the courts. The case was one of third-party enforcement of a contract containing an arbitration clause, but the position would appear to be no different in a simple two-party case.

The outcome is that the party seeking to rely upon the arbitration clause has to rely upon any remedies granted by the arbitrators for breach of contract and also upon barriers to the enforceability in England of the foreign judgment, just as was the case when the UK was part of the European Union and subject to the equivalent prohibition in the Brussels Regulation.