Arbitration projects

The Arbitration Committee has prepared a guide to the law and practice of arbitration in more than 30 countries around the world. The material is intended as a high-level practical overview for practitioners and others seeking an introduction to arbitration in particular jurisdictions. Read more

• *View Dec 2010 update*

On 15 June 2009, the Arbitration Committee submitted a paper to the European Commission commenting on key aspects of the Commission’s Report and accompanying Green Paper concerning possible changes to the operation of Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (the 'Regulation').  The paper addresses those aspects of the Report and Green Paper regarding the interface between the Regulation and arbitration and in particular the proposed deletion of the arbitration exclusion from the Regulation.

The Arbitration Committee’s paper offers a number of conclusions including:

• there seems to be no compelling reason for deleting the arbitration exclusion; such a deletion would actually adversely affect the effectiveness of arbitration agreements and the circulation of arbitral awards;
• were the Commission nevertheless to propose the deletion of the arbitration exclusion, the Regulation should include specific rules in order to preserve the effectiveness of arbitration agreements and the compatibility of the Regulation with the New York Convention.

The paper goes on to offer a series of suggestions for the Commission’s consideration in the event that the Commission proposes deleting the arbitration exclusion. A copy of the paper is available by clicking here.

The paper was prepared by a Working Group set up by the Arbitration Committee.   Alexis Mourre served as the Working Group Chair.  The members of the Working Group are listed in the annex to the paper.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank Alexis and the other members of the Working Group for their hard work and excellent contribution, which was completed in the short period of time available for public comment.

Pierre Bienvenu, Ogilvy Renault, Montreal
Guido Santiago Tawil, M&M Bomchil, Buenos Aires
Co-Chairs, IBA Arbitration Committee

Changes to Brussels Regulation - Dec 2010 update

Following the submission of the IBA's paper, three of the IBA Working Group's members were retained as members of the Group of Experts entrusted to advise the Commission on the interface between arbitration and the Regulation. The European Commission has now published its proposal for the reform of Regulation 44/2001.

The proposal released by the Commission on 14 December 2010 is substantially in line with the IBA's recommendations and retains the arbitration exception. The draft makes it clear that the Regulation does not apply to the form, existence, validity or effects of the arbitration agreement. It also includes a new rule aimed at enhancing the efficacy of arbitration agreements by providing that a court seized of a dispute should stay its proceedings if its jurisdiction is contested on the basis of an arbitration agreement and a court or an arbitral tribunal has been seized of the case. The draft Regulation clarifies that this new rule would not prevent courts from declining jurisdiction if required by the applicable national law, for example when there is prima facie an arbitration agreement in countries that admit the negative effect of competenz-competenz. Finally, the draft specifies that, under the Regulation, an arbitral tribunal is deemed seized when a party has nominated an arbitrator or when a party has requested the support of an institution, authority or a court for the tribunal's constitution.

If adopted, this proposal would be a major development in favour of arbitration.

IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration (2004)

In spring 2002, the committee formed a Working Group for the purpose of examining issues relating to conflicts of interest in international commercial arbitration. A first session was devoted to this project at the IBA conference in Durban where the First Draft of a Joint Report was presented. Another special session was devoted to the Second Draft of the 'IBA Guidelines on Impartiality, Independence and Disclosure in International Commercial Arbitration' at the IBA's 2003 Annual Conference in San Francisco. The Final Draft was approved and adopted by the IBA Council in May 2004 as the 'IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration'.

The Guidelines represent the most comprehensive work to date defining the framework by which the impartiality of arbitration in the international arena can be most effectively assured. The publication sets out a series of seven general standards of independence and disclosure to govern the selection, appointment, and continuing role of an arbitrator. The Guidelines were approved by the Council of the IBA on 22 May 2004 and are intended for use around the world. They have been translated into various languages (see below), most recently Italian (2009) with the assistance of the Milano Chamber of Arbitration, Professor Chiara Giovannucci Orlandi, the members of the Bocconi University team of the XIV edition of the Willem C Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Professor Luca Radicati di Brozolo and Alexis Mourre. Detailed background information to the Guidelines was published in the September 2004 issue of Business Law International.

• Download the original English version of the Guidelines
• Download the Chinese translation of the Guidelines
• Download the French translation of the Guidelines The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Alexis Mourre, Pierre Bienvenu and Renée Thériault in the translation of these Guidelines.
• Download the Italian translation of the Guidelines 
• Download the Japanese translation of the Guidelines
• Download the Polish translation of the Guidelines
• Download the Portuguese translation of the Guidelines
• Download the Russian translation of the Guidelines
• Download the Spanish translation of the Guidelines
• View the press release 'IBA Receives Top Award for ADR Innovation'
• View article by Judith Gill entitled ‘The IBA Conflicts Guidelines – Who’s Using them and How?’

A report on the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration has been produced and is available to download in draft form. This report examines case law referring to the guidelines, the approach of arbitral institutions and observations regarding the individual standards of the guidelines. It should be viewed as a work in progress and the aim is that future subcommittees will continue monitoring case law and identify areas for possible improvement.

IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (2010)

On 29 May 2010, the International Bar Association adopted the new IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration. The revised rules will apply to all arbitrations in which the parties agree to apply the IBA Rules after 29 May 2010, whether as part of new arbitration agreements or in determining the rules of procedure in a pending or future arbitration. Read more 
 

• Download the English version of the Rules
   
• Download the Arabic translation of the Rules The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Essam Al Tamimi, Fatima El Zeini and Jalal El Ahdab in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Chinese translation of the Rules   This translation was carried out by CIETAC (Ms Lu Fei of the Secretariat), Peter Thorp, Sun Huawei and Frank Lin under the coordination of Sally Harpole. The IBA and its Arbitration Committee deeply appreciate their excellent collaboration.
• Download the French translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Alexis Mourre, Pierre Bienvenu and Renée Thériault in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the German translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Hilmar Raeschke-Kessler, Barbara Raeschke-Kessler, Amy Cohen Kläsener, Richard Kreindler and Alexander Dolgorukow in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Greek translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Antonias Dimolitsa and Niki Kerameus in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Italian translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Luca Radicati di Brozolo, Alexis Mourre, Margherita Magillo, Giovanni Minuto and Francesco Perillo in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Japanese translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of the Japan Association of Arbitrators (JAA) in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Korean translation of the Rules  This translation was made by Ms Sue Hyun Lim and Ms Yunsoo Shin under the supervision of Kap–You (Kevin) Kim. The IBA and its Arbitration Committee would like to thank all of them for their assistance in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Russian translation of the Rules   The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Vladimir Khvalei and Ilya V Nikiforov, and Richard Chlup and Andrey Panov, in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Spanish translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Ines de San Martin and Florencia Lebensohn, under the supervision of David Arias and Guido S Tawil, in the translation of these Rules.
• Download the Turkish translation of the Rules  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Ziya Akinci, Kerem Canbazoglu and Eren Altay in the translation of these Rules.

NB Other foreign-language versions of the 2010 Rules will be posted in due course. 

• View an article by the IBA Working Party titled 'Commentary on the revised text of the 2010 IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration' (2010 version)
• View the Working Group preface to the Russian translation of the 2010 IBA Rules, 'Commentary on the Russian translation of the 2010 IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration'

Dear Arbitration Committee members,

As Co-Chairs of the IBA's Arbitration Committee, we are pleased to present to you the IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses, approved by the IBA Council in October 2010. The Guidelines were developed by a Task Force appointed by the Arbitration Committee and composed of Paul Friedland (chair), Doak Bishop, Karim Hafez, Adriano Jucà, Carole Malinvaud, Sundaresh Menon, Jean-Claude Najar, William (Rusty) Park, Anne-Véronique Schlaepfer, Eduardo Silva Romero, Stephen E Smith, Matthew Weiniger and Damien Nyer (Secretary).

Guido Tawil
Judith Gill, QC

• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (English)
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Arabic)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Nayla Comair Obeid and Omar Aljazy in respectively preparing and reviewing this text
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Chinese)   The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Bing Yan and Jessie Yan in preparing this translation, and the work of Sally Harpole, Huawei Sun and Mile Zhao in reviewing the text
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (French) The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Alexis Mourre, Pierre Bienvenu and Renée Thériault in the translation of these Guidelines.
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (German)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Prof Dr Richard Kreindler and Alexander Dolgorukow in the translation, and Dr Patricia Nacimiento in the review of these Guidelines.
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Greek)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Niki K Kerameus and Antonias Dimolitsa in respectively preparing and reviewing this text
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Italian) The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Prof Luca Radicati di Brozolo and Alexis Mourre in respectively preparing and reviewing this text.
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Japanese)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of the Japan Association of Arbitrators (JAA) in the translation of these Guidelines 
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Korean)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Kevin Kim and Prof Keechang Kim in respectively preparing and reviewing this text
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Persian)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Mohamad Alikhani and Yas Banifatemi in respectively preparing and reviewing this text.
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Russian)   The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Evgeniya Rubinina and Pavel Boulatov/Timur Askhadullin in respectively preparing and reviewing this text
• IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses (Spanish)  The IBA would like to acknowledge the work of Eduardo Zuleta and Catalina Echeverri, under the supervision of Guido Tawil, Rafael Llano Oddone and Francisco Guzman in the translation of these Guidelines.

The above guides have been prepared in the English language and translated. In the event of any inconsistency between the English language versions and the translations into any other language, the English language version shall prevail.