International Commercial Arbitration: Important Contemporary Questions

The collected papers in ICCA Congress Series no. 11, as reflected in its title, address important contemporary questions in international commercial arbitration. Included are contributions written by participants in the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration and Conciliation on its current work on the requirement of a written form for an arbitration agreement, interim measures of protection and UNCITRAL?s Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation. Further contributions give leading practitioners? views on illegality in the formation and performance of contracts or in the conduct of the arbitration, examining questions on how the arbitral tribunal should deal with these vexed issues and how forgery and fraud may be detected. The factors that lead to acceptance by parties of the decisions of arbitrators are dealt with in contributions on the psychological aspects of dispute resolution. The volume concludes with a series of articles on arbitration under investment treaties written by experienced arbitrators and practitioners, with special emphasis on ICSID and NAFTA and the emerging issues of transparency, accountability and review.

Contains lengthy articles on the ongoing work of UNCITRAL on proposed amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and the recently adopted Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation Details the current thinking on the requirement of an arbitration agreement in writing and how this can be accommodated by the UNCITRAL Model Law and the 1958 New York Convention Addresses the granting of interim measures by arbitral tribunals and their enforcement by national and foreign courts Analyzes issues raised by illegality in the formation and performance of contracts and in the conduct arbitrations and provides a systematic overview of the answers given by legislation, arbitrators and courts Provides insight into the attitudes of arbitrators and parties regarding dispute settlement processes Addresses the changing public perception of arbitration under investment treaties