This publication is a concise and colourful presentation of the authors' first-hand experience with the remarkable, stormy procedural history of the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague. Examining each rule in turn, the authors examine the first intent of the UNCITRAL framers, as evident from the travaux preparatoires, and then analyze how the Rules were interpreted, changed and applied at the tribunal. This volume is destined to become a standard reference on the procedural aspects of international commercial arbitration. Parties involved in arbitration, their counsel, and others interested in international practice will treasure this explication of the pitfalls and ambiguities in the real-life application of the Rules, including the role of international political intrigue, in the highly charged atmosphere of multinational proceedings.

The UNCITRAL Model Law after Twenty-Five Years: Global Perspectives on International Commercial Arbitration is a celebration of the Model Law’s significant contribution to international arbitration law. It assesses and evaluates the Model Law’s impact on the development of a universal arbitration law for a complex and mobile transnational community of lawyers, judges and arbitrators. Written from the perspective of counsel, arbitrators, legislators and judges, this collection is bold in its coverage of Model Law practice. It considers questions of legislative implementation; pre-award issues such as the review of arbitral jurisdiction and the production of evidence; post-award issues such as judicial review of arbitral awards; interpretation and harmonization methods; and questions of future reform. This is one of the only books on the market that considers the application of the UNCITRAL Model Law in both great depth and breadth, and from multiple perspectives. It provides critical assessments and evaluations of the impact that the Model Law has had after 25 years in various aspects of the arbitral process. The issues covered pertain to both substantive and procedural elements; theoretical and practical; historical and evolutional. The UNCITRAL Model Law after Twenty-Five Years: Global Perspectives on International Commercial Arbitration adopts a comparative approach and covers practice in nearly all Model Law countries and many others. As a seminal critique of the progress that the Model Law has made to date, this collection of articles will be of great benefit to judges, arbitrators, lawyers, academics and anyone interested in the future of international commercial arbitration.

Widely regarded as the most important ground for refusal under the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention), Article V(1)(b), commonly referred to as the ‘due process’ clause, is interpreted in diverse ways across jurisdictions. This book not only thoroughly examines the variety of approaches to the clause adopted by different national courts but also presents a particular understanding of the transnational approach to the due process defence grounded in the interpretative framework of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Drawing on insights and methods from comparative law that consider not only national legal systems but also international commercial arbitration and other international legal regimes, the author specifically leverages the principle of audiatur et altera pars and subsequent state practice. Among the matters examined are the following: threshold requirements for the due process defence; policy considerations of and relevant limits to the interpretation and application of the due process defence; proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitration proceedings; opportunity to present a case and equal treatment; and the lex arbitri, lex fori, and uniform transnational approaches to the applicable law for the due process defence. The book includes a detailed comparative analysis of numerous domestic judicial decisions across jurisdictions. A comprehensive bibliography includes references to cases, awards, treaties, UN Documents, legislation, institutional rules, and soft laws. The book shows clearly how an understanding of transnational due process grounded in the interpretative framework mandated by international law can contribute to the uniform interpretation and application of Article V(1)(b), thus contributing to debates on the decentralised interpretation of international law by domestic courts. Resolving a range of practical questions about the precise content of the due process defence, the book’s stable and principled framework for interpreting the due process defence will be greatly appreciated by arbitration professionals. Judges will benefit from its endorsement of international judicial cooperation through the recognition and consideration of foreign court decisions, fostering a more harmonised interpretation of the New York Convention.

Arbitration clauses in investment treaties often provide investors with a choice between ICSID arbitration, on the one hand, and rules originally drafted for commercial arbitration on the other. The Use of Commercial Arbitration Rules in Investment Treaty Disputes studies how domestic courts and commercial arbitration institutions impact the scope of arbitral tribunal jurisdiction when commercial arbitration rules are used. Based on extensive studies of court decisions and previously-unknown arbitral awards, Joel Dahlquist’s book analyses the practice of domestic courts in reviewing treaty-based jurisdiction, and explains how the two most used commercial arbitration institutions – the ICC and the SCC – have drafted, interpreted and applied their arbitration rules in treaty-based disputes.

Reaching past the secrecy so often met in arbitration, the second edition of this commentary explains clearly and fully the workings of the UNCITRAL Rules of Arbitral Procedure recommended for use in 1976 by the United Nations. This new edition fully takes account of the revised Rules adopted in 2010 while maintaining coverage of the original Rules where these remain relevant. The differences between the old and the new Rules are clearly indicated and explained. Pulling together difficult to obtain sources from the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, arbitrations under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and ad hoc arbitrations, it illuminates the shape the UNCITRAL Rules take in practice. The authors cogently critique that practice in the light of the negotiating history of the rules and solutions adopted by the other major private rules of arbitral procedure. To aid the specialist in the field, the practice of these various tribunals is extensively extracted and reproduced. Rich both in its analysis and sources, this text is indispensable for those working in or studying international arbitration.

The Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI) is the most prestigious institute in the Netherlands for the arbitration of commercial disputes. While NAI arbitration is the dispute resolution mechanism of choice of many Dutch corporations and public entities, it is increasingly agreed on by foreign parties selecting the Netherlands as a neutral venue for their potential disputes. This excellent volume, a rule-by-rule guide to the NAI Arbitration Rules, is not only the first such handbook in English, but the most comprehensive and detailed in any language. In addition, it provides a unique commentary in English on important elements of Dutch arbitration law. Drawing on case law from arbitral tribunals and state courts and on extensive personal experience, members of the arbitration team of the Dutch law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. provide in-depth commentary on each provision of the NAI Arbitration Rules and on arbitration-related court proceedings in the Netherlands under the Dutch Arbitration Act. Focusing on disputes arising from (among others) share purchase agreements, joint venture agreements, licence agreements, franchise agreements, finance agreements, contractor agreements, distribution agreements, and agreements for the sale of goods, the analysis covers such crucial factors of the NAI system as the following: the use of the list procedure for the appointment of arbitrators; the central role of the Administrator; the Dutch concept of binding advice; contractual relationships and exclusion of liability; the separability of the arbitration agreement; freedom in determining and applying rules of evidence; the mechanisms for parties to seek relief in summary arbitration proceedings; costs of arbitration; and the arbitral award, including the possibility of rectifying, supplementing and setting aside this award. The provision-by-provision analysis also compares the NAI Rules with both relevant proceedings in the Dutch state courts and, inter alia, ICC and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and to practice under such other rules. The authors of this matchless book have faced many questions on the NAI Arbitration Rules, advised on the interpretation and correct application of those Rules, and defended such interpretation before tribunals and courts. In this book they share their experience, insights, and expertise. Counsel for corporate clients and public entities contemplating arbitration proceedings and– as well as counsel to parties in NAI proceedings or related court proceedings and– will find here an incomparable guide to the NAI system and Dutch arbitration law.