Interim measures are frequently requested by international commercial arbitration practitioners, though they raise issues as to how to protect legitimate expectations of the parties involved. In 2007, the Cuban Council of State approved two statutes referring, among others, to the proceeding by which interim measures of protection can be granted in support of arbitration. This contribution considers the key developments, as well as the shortcomings, of these statutes. The developments to consider are the express permission to request and powers to grant these measures, the introduction of a legal principle of court assistance to arbitration, and the legal adoption of the UNCITRAL principles in this regard, the extension of interim protection to the proceedings as well as to the evidence, and the option to request and grant interim measures inaudita altera parte. On the other hand, the most important gaps in Cuban law are linked to the omission of any provision on the right of the arbitral parties to modify the entire interim measures legal framework, the exclusion of ad hoc proceedings, the lack of an accurate test for legal competence criteria, etc. For Cuba, improvement to this legal setting is vital to increase legal certainty and the strength of economic transactions between Cuban and foreign enterprises.
Journal of International Arbitration