Juridical Tribune (Jun 2020)
Emerging tools to attract and increase the use of international arbitration
Abstract
In the last decade, a constant concern became the extent to which arbitration is and can be characterized as an efficient process. Among the arbitration advantages, the speed and the reduced costs of this alternative method of dispute resolution were always mentioned, as an incentive in promoting and attracting users. One of the ongoing debates in international arbitration is whether the arbitration procedure could be faster and cheaper than litigation in front of the state courts and how to increase the recourse to arbitration by promoting a more efficient conduct of the proceedings. This article mainly describes how the arbitration specialists (institutions, arbitrators, parties and counsels), by respecting and adopting innovative instruments in the field, can contribute to the fairness and efficiency of the international arbitration process in which they are involved, in order to respond to the arbitration community most recent requirements related to transparency, predictability, security, accuracy, compliance and diversity. This contribution enumerates and stops on some current and interesting instruments which contribute to the efficiency of the arbitration, promoted by the arbitration community based on the practice in the field and which arouses the interest of the specialists. Some of those are not sufficiently convinced that these tools will be able to contribute in the long-term to the achievement of the cherished efficiency without affecting the advantages and the basic principles of the arbitration.