Designating Appointing Authorities in UNCITRAL Arbitration: Wrong and Imperfect Designations
Keywords:
International Arbitration, Appointing authorities, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, ICC as appointing authority
Abstract
The parties have a right to designate an appointing authority that will select and appoint the arbitrators in case the parties cannot agree on their appointment, and decide on challenges to arbitrators in an international arbitration. However, if they lack experience, knowledge or are simply not careful enough, they can make wrong designations which result in appointing authorities that are not neutral. Sometimes, also, errors in drafting clauses that designate the appointing authority lead to imperfections and incoherences, which may frustrate the parties’ choice of the appointing authority and adversely affect the entire arbitration. In this paper we shall examine the operation of arbitration clauses designating appointing authorities on two relatively recent examples from the combined UNCITRAL-ICC practice, with the aim to identify potential problems arising from wrong and imperfect designations, and suggest solutions.
References
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http://www.lalive.ch/data/publications/43_-_On_the_Neutrality_of_the_Arbitrator_and_of_the_Place_of_Arbitration_Recueil_de_travaux_suisses_sur_l'arbitrage_international.pdf
Serge Lazareff, “Fostering and Rating Arbitrators’ Efficiency: The View of the Appointing Authorities”, Journal of World Investment & Trade, 5 (1)/2004, 77-88.
Carolyn Lamm, Ciara Giorgetti and Mairée Uran-Bidegain, International Centre for settlement of Investment Disputes, in C. Giorgetti (ed.), International Litigation in Practice: The Rules, Practice and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals, 2012, pp. 77-110.
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Maja Stanivuković, “Adjudication as a Preliminary Step to Arbitration: A Case of First Impression in Serbia”, in: Harmonisation of Serbian and Hungarian Law with the European Union Law, Novi Sad Faculty of Law, Novi Sad 2018, 137-167.
Ruth Teitelbaum, “Challenge of arbitrators and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal: defining the role of the appointing authority”, Journal of International Arbitration, 23/2006, 547-562.
Albert Jan van den Berg (ed), Econet Wireless Ltd. (UK/South Africa) v First Bank of Nigeria, et al. (Nigeria), Award, 2 June 2005 in Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, Volume XXXI, Kluwer Law International, 2006, pp. 49 – 65.
T. Varadi, O nepristrasnosti u rešavanju međunarodnih sporova, Zbornik radova, Vol. 23, 1989, pp. 163-180.
T. Varady, On Appointing Authorities in International Commercial Arbitration, Emory Journal of International Dispute Resolution, Vol. 2, 1988, Issue 2, 1988, pp. 311-358.
Gary B. Born, International Commercial Arbitration, Second Edition, Kluwer Law International, 2014.
Philippe Fouchard, Note, Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (Ord. refere) 26 mars 1986, Revue de l’arbitrage, 1987, p. 191.
Clyde Croft, The Revised UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules of 2010: A commentary, p. 9. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/VicJSchol/2010/55.pdf
Brooks W. Daly, Permanent Court of Arbitration, in: C. Giorgetti (ed.), International Litigation in Practice: The Rules, Practice and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals, 2012, pp. 37-73.
Gaius Ezejiofor, “Appointment of an Arbitrator under the Nigerian Law: The Procedure and Powers of an Appointing Authority – Nigerian Paper Mills Ltd. v. Pithawalla Engineering GMBH”, African Journal of International and Comparative Law, 7 (3)/1995, 663-671.
David Gaukrodger, Appointing Authorities and the Selection of Arbitrators in Investor-State Dispute Settlement: An Overview, A Consultation Paper, March 2018. https://www.oecd.org/investment/investment-policy/ISDS-Appointing-Authorities-Arbitration-March-2018.pdf
Chiara Giorgetti, Who decides who decides in international investment arbitration, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Vol. 35, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 431-486.
Sarah Grimmer, Expanded Role of the Appointing Authority under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 2010, The notes, Journal of International Arbitration, Vol. 28, 2011, pp. 501-518.
Gus van Harten, Investment Treaty Arbitration, Procedural Fairness, and the Rule of Law, in Stephan Shill, International Investment Law and Comparative Public Law, Oxford University Press, 2020, pp. 643-648. Also available as: All Papers. Paper 13. http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/all_papers/13
Frank B. Kellogg, Limits of the Jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice, The American Journal of International Law, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Apr., 1931), pp. 203-213.
Pierre Lalive, On the Neutrality of the Arbitrator and of the Place of Arbitration, Recueil des travaux suisses sur l’arbitrage international, Lausanne, 1984, pp. 23-33, 28.
http://www.lalive.ch/data/publications/43_-_On_the_Neutrality_of_the_Arbitrator_and_of_the_Place_of_Arbitration_Recueil_de_travaux_suisses_sur_l'arbitrage_international.pdf
Serge Lazareff, “Fostering and Rating Arbitrators’ Efficiency: The View of the Appointing Authorities”, Journal of World Investment & Trade, 5 (1)/2004, 77-88.
Carolyn Lamm, Ciara Giorgetti and Mairée Uran-Bidegain, International Centre for settlement of Investment Disputes, in C. Giorgetti (ed.), International Litigation in Practice: The Rules, Practice and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals, 2012, pp. 77-110.
Prabhash Ranjan and Pushkar Anand, Chapter 19: Investor State Dispute Settlement in the 2016 Indian Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: Does it Go Too Far? In: Julien Chaisse and Luke Nottage (eds), International Investment Treaties and Arbitration Across Asia, Brill, Nijhoff, 2018, pp. 579-611.
Markus Schifferl, Article IV: Organization of the Arbitration, in Gerold Zeiler and Alfred Siwy, The European Convention on International Commercial Arbitration: A Commentary, Kluwer Law International, 2018, pp. 71-80.
Maja Stanivuković, Sanja Đajić, “From Losinger to ATA v. Jordan: Retroactive application of national law to arbitration agreements”, Yearbook on International Arbitration and ADR, (eds. Roth Marianne Herausgeber, Michael Geistlinger) Vol. VI , NWV, Wien, 2019, pp. 149-170.
Maja Stanivuković, “Adjudication as a Preliminary Step to Arbitration: A Case of First Impression in Serbia”, in: Harmonisation of Serbian and Hungarian Law with the European Union Law, Novi Sad Faculty of Law, Novi Sad 2018, 137-167.
Ruth Teitelbaum, “Challenge of arbitrators and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal: defining the role of the appointing authority”, Journal of International Arbitration, 23/2006, 547-562.
Albert Jan van den Berg (ed), Econet Wireless Ltd. (UK/South Africa) v First Bank of Nigeria, et al. (Nigeria), Award, 2 June 2005 in Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, Volume XXXI, Kluwer Law International, 2006, pp. 49 – 65.
T. Varadi, O nepristrasnosti u rešavanju međunarodnih sporova, Zbornik radova, Vol. 23, 1989, pp. 163-180.
T. Varady, On Appointing Authorities in International Commercial Arbitration, Emory Journal of International Dispute Resolution, Vol. 2, 1988, Issue 2, 1988, pp. 311-358.
Published
2021/02/25
Section
Original Scientific Paper