• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.55-83
• /
• 2022

The United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (Singapore Mediation Convention) results in new challenges to the area of international dispute resolution by providing the enforcement regime for mediated settlement agreements, which have not been admitted as enforceable in some civil law countries, including Korea and Japan. Japan has struggled to promote international arbitration and international mediation, and such efforts were accelerated by the adoption of the Singapore Mediation Convention in 2018. In order to standardize arbitration proceedings and promote the practice of international arbitration, Japan produced two noticeable results: the new JCAA Arbitration Rules and the amendment to the Arbitration Act of Japan. In addition to that Expedited arbitration procedure and Interactive Arbitration Rules of JCAA present the new possibility of international arbitration procedure for civil law practitioners, the amendment to the Arbitration Act of Japan suggests significant implications to Korea for its manifest provisions regarding enforcement requirements and proceedings and its protection of Access to Justice for foreign law practitioners.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.95-107
• /
• 2017

Mongolian government enacted the Foreign Trade Arbitration Law to modernize the practice of commercial arbitration. Nevertheless, the Foreign Trade Arbitration Trade Law fell short on a number of fronts and arbitration itself remained a distant second option to litigation within Mongolia. Law on Arbitration of 2003 aimed to modernize the Mongolian arbitration framework so that it would mirror the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. At the same time, the Law on Arbitration 2003 made a conscious decision to deviate from international norms with respect to certain aspects in order to accommodate for the unique circumstances and characteristics of Mongolia. For example, unlike its UNCITRAL counterpart, the Law on Arbitration of 2003 did not include an exhaustive list of grounds for refusing the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. In that sense, the Law on Arbitration of 2003 was a resounding success and a drastic improvement on the Foreign Trade Arbitration Law. These factors convinced the Mongolian government to once again revise its arbitration law. This process, which started in 2008 with the help of foreign law firms and institutions, ultimately culminated in the Law of Arbitration of 2017. The chief objective of the Law of Arbitration of 2017 was to more closely adhere to preexisting international norms on arbitration such as the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, and there is no question that Mongolia has succeeded in doing so. This article thus concludes by explaining some of the noteworthy improvements made by the 2017 revisions, and by noting that Mongolia is now equipped with a truly international legal framework for arbitration.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.91-130
• /
• 2010

This thesis, which mainly focuses on judicial supervision of commercial arbitration in China, will deal with the developing process of arbitration system and analyze the actual condition of judicial supervision in commercial arbitration. And it also focuses on the underlying problems attributed to the excessive judicial intervention and an effort that the related academic world, arbitration industry and legal circles in China start to make in order to improve the system, resolving them. About the time China became a member of the WTO and about the 10th anniversary of the enforcement of Arbitration Law, powerful demands to solve the problems started to exist intensively. Academic field in China integrated these demands into the form of "proposed amendment of arbitration law", which enhanced the independence of arbitration and the autonomy of the involved parties drastically, as it accepted major contents of UNCITRAL Model Law while preserving of original tool of Chinese arbitration system. Separately from the movement in academic field, Supreme People's Court starts to exert itself for the, improvement of arbitration system, by announcing a series of proposed judicial interpretation so that it could collect the public opinion continuously and reflect the gathered opinion in judicial interpretation efficiently. Notwithstanding, there still remains to be ameliorated that the Arbitration Law of the PRC won't be able to overcome original limit when valuating judicial intervention on arbitration in some ways.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.91-111
• /
• 2015

This paper discusses the problem of extraordinary delay in the commercial arbitration process, increased arbitration fees, and denial of the benefits of arbitration to other parties due to the abuse of procedural rights by relevant parties in commercial arbitration process. This paper proposes measures to reduce abuse of process in commercial arbitration, such as statutory modification, judicial supervision, amendment of arbitration rules and the intervention of disciplinary bodies.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.3-37
• /
• 2020

The Korean Arbitration Act (KAA) enacted in 1966 was entirely revised in 1999, adopting the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. Korea is trying to be an international arbitration hub in the region, taking advantage of its geographical location in Asia and its highly open economy. KAA was revised in 2016 again in order to reflect the criticisms against the previous KAA, changes in the arbitration environment, and the 2006 amendment to the UNCITRAL Model Law. The basic direction of the revision was to maintain the UNCITRAL Model Law system and to deal with the national arbitration and international arbitration in the same framework. The scope of revision covers all fields of arbitration, including arbitration agreements, arbitrators, arbitral proceedings, interim measures of the arbitral tribunals, recognition/enforcement of arbitral awards, and their annulment. This paper aims to introduce the important issues of the 2016 revision of KAA, to offer important information discussed in the process of revision, and thus to help those concerned in the interpretation and implementation of KAA. The 2016 revision of KAA is expected to help greatly in promoting not only the national arbitration, but also the international arbitration in Korea.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.53-89
• /
• 2006

At its thirty-second session(Vienna, 17 May-4 June 1999), the UNCITRAL decided that the priority items for the Working Group(Arbitration and Conciliation) should include enforceability of interim measures and the requirement of written (on for the arbitration agreement. The Working Group, at its forty-third session(Vienna, 3-7 October 2005), it had undertaken a detailed review of the text of the revised article 17 of UNCTTRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, and it had resumed discussions on a draft model legislative provision revising article 7, paragraph (2) of UNCITRAL Model Law. The purpose of this paper is to make research on the contents and issues of the draft legislative provisions on interim measures and preliminary orders, and on the form of arbitration agreement which the Working Group discussed and adopted at its forth-fourth session(New York, 23-27 January 2006). The draft legislative provisions on interim measures and preliminary orders are composed of the following provisions : Article 17-power of arbitral tribunal to order interim measures; article 17 bis-conditions for granting interim measures; article 17 ter-applications for preliminary orders and conditions for granting preliminary orders; article 17 quater-specific regime for preliminary orders; article 17 quinquies- modification, suspension, termination; article 17 sexies-provision of security; article 17 septies-disclosure; article 17 octies-costs and damages; article 17 novies recognition and enforcements; article 17 decies-grounds for refusing recognition or enforcement; article 17 undecies-court-ordered interim measures. There are the following issues in the draft legislative provisions on interim measures and preliminary orders : form of issuance of an interim measures in article 17(2); conditions for granting interim measures in article 17 bis; purpose, function and legal regime of preliminary orders in article 17 ter; obligation of arbitral tribunal to give notice, and non-enforceability of preliminary orders in article 17 quater; burden of proof, interplay between article 17 decies and article 34, and decision on the recognition and enforcement of the interim measures in article 17 decies; placement of article 17 undecies; amendment of scope exception of application in article 1(2). The draft legislative provisions on the form of arbitration agreement are composed of the following provisions : article 7(1) definition of arbitration agreement; article 7(2) arbitration agreement in writing; article 7(3) arbitration agreement if its terms(content) are (is) recorded in any form; article 7(4) arbitration agreement by an electronic communication; article 7(5) arbitration agreement in an exchange of statements of claim and defence; article 7(6) reference to any document containing an arbitration clause. There are the following issues in the draft legislative provisions on the form of arbitration agreement : arbitration agreement in writing in article 7(2); terms or contents of arbitration agreement in article 7(3); arbitration agreement by electronic communication in article 7(4); existence of arbitration agreement in article 7(5); reference to any document containing an arbitration clause in article 7(6); the alternative proposal on article 7; amendment to article 35(2).

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.97-118
• /
• 2015

As China has quickly emerged as a global economic power, the total number of international commercial disputes arbitrated by Chinese arbitral institutions has increased dramatically. Along with this, the annulment procedure of arbitral awards in China have been newly brought to the fore. In accordance with the historical background and the demand of the times, the Chinese annulment procedure of arbitral awards reveals distinctive Chinese features. Although it was enacted in the face ofof an unwarranted prejudice against the dispute settlement system by arbitration as well as a deep mistrust of domestic arbitral institutions, the annulment procedure of arbitral awards showed a certain degree of justification and rationality in its initial stages of legislation. However, it is also the case that it has not adapted well to new domestic or foreign arbitration circumstances in the last twenty years. At present, there is a keen interest in revisions to and debates on arbitration law of China. It is necessary to take an active part in the amendment discussion and process of arbitration law. Moreover, we need to reform the annulment procedure of arbitral awards in order to meet the global trend of arbitration law.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.131-149
• /
• 2010

Since the Arbitration Law of China took effect in 1995, arbitration has grown with the economy. At the end of 2009, there were 202 arbitration institutions in China. Among them, China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission(CIETAC) has adopted online arbitration and has settled internet domain name disputes since 2001. CIETAC Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center(DNDRC) has accumulated abundant experiences of online arbitration in the field of domain name disputes. Based on those experiences, on 1 May 2009, CIETAC implemented the CIETAC Online Arbitration Rules(Rules') to regulate the resolution of e-business disputes as well as other business disputes. With this background, this article aims to study the status quo, practices and issues of online arbitration conducted by CIETAC. For the purpose of the article, a general picture of online arbitration is outlined first, followed by introducing the steps of the online arbitration procedure. According to the 'Rules', the entire arbitration process is conducted using online communication methods which are cost-effective and efficient. To facilitate the development of online arbitration, legal barriers need to be removed. This article considers main legal issues of online arbitration in China and proposes amendment to Chinese Arbitration Law, in particular, the recognition of the validity of electronic arbitration agreements and awards.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.3-20
• /
• 2010

Traditionally, finality has been regarded as one of virtues of arbitration. However in many cases absence of appeal process in arbitration is also a factor deterring people from choosing arbitration. Even though unsatisfied party may resort to a court for annulment of an award, it is allowed only when there are procedural defects. When there are substantive defects in matters of fact or matters of law, it is not easy or almost impossible to bring the case on the table again. The introduction of arbitration appeal process has been discussed in international arbitration fora, and some countries have already been adopting appeal process. Realizing this trend, it is time for us to consider adopting similar appeal process. Arbitration being based on the party autonomy, there's no good reason to prohibit appeal when the parties agree to do so. Arbitration appeal should be allowed within arbitration system itself, rather than resorting to a court, so that many virtues of arbitration can be maintained in the appeal. In designing an arbitration appeal system, following measures should be considered: minimum amount in dispute to trigger the right of appeal should be set in order to reduce the volume of appeal; losing appellant should be responsible for the legal cost of his opponent in order to deter non-meritorious appeals; time limits on initial appeal application and subsequent briefs should be set in order to accelerate appeal process; and, appeal tribunals should be composed of more experienced arbitrators in order to provide more accurate award. If we are equipped with a well designed appeal process within arbitration system, Korea will be able to emerge as an attractive international arbitration forum.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.77-100
• /
• 2019

Third-party funding in international and domestic disputes is a fast-growing trend and it is increasingly used by large, solvent companies that simply wish to share risk in their finance. On January 10, 2017, the Civil Law Amendment Bill was passed in Singapore and on June 2017 an "Arbitration and Mediation Legislation (Third Party Funding) Bill" in Hong-Kong had a third-party funding to finance the international arbitration and other dispute resolutions expressly approved. This arbitral tribunal's expanding discretion over critical interim measure of security cost was in issue. In Essar v. Norscot (2016), the arbitrator found that the additional third-party funding costs were recoverable as "other costs of the parties." In here, the decision showed the issue of a tribunal's power over cost measures could spread out to be reviewed and broadened through the legislative process. A recent investor-state arbitration case of ICSID, RSM Production Corporation v. Saint Lucia, covered the express awarding of security for costs where a claimant was funded by a third-party funder. It seems inevitable that the volume of third-party funding industry will grow more as time goes on. The next step would be to formulate guidelines on how to determine criteria against which an application for security for costs is measured.