Towards A Uniform Approach To Confidentiality Of International Commercial Arbitration

The book deals with confidentiality as one of the most controversial issues in international commercial arbitration. On the one hand, it is widely recognized that confidentiality is an important advantage of arbitration which contributes to its attractiveness. On the other hand, there is no uniform regulation in national legislations, arbitration rules, and other relevant sources as to the scope or even to the existence of a duty of confidentiality. A uniform approach to confidentiality of international commercial arbitration is possible. The best way to achieve it would be through harmonization of national arbitration laws which should impose a confidentiality obligation subject to certain exceptions. The purpose of maintaining confidentiality would be to protect primarily the parties from undesirable leaks that can be avoided and to protect arbitration as an institution. As to a systematic publication of arbitral awards without identifying the parties’ identity, it is desirable and should be the goal.

After neutrality and international enforcement, the next most valued feature of international commercial arbitration is confidentiality. For reasons easy to imagine, businessmen do not want their trade secrets, business plans, strategies, contracts, financial results or any other types of business information to be publicly accessible, as would commonly happen in court proceedings. Yet the case law of arbitration shows that in practical terms confidentiality is not to be taken for granted - in fact, it has become one of the most undetermined matters in international arbitration. Although 'the emperor of arbitration may have clothes, ' as one scholar has quipped, his raiments of secrecy can be 'torn with surprising ease'. This book deciphers the current degree of confidentiality in international commercial arbitration as reflected by the most important arbitration rules, national laws, other arbitration-related enactments, and practices of arbitral tribunals and domestic courts globally. Drawing on this data and analysis, the author then sets forth criteria to assess the breach of confidentiality in international arbitration and the proper rules for protecting or sanctioning such breaches. What do we understand by confidentiality in arbitration? What are its limitations? Who is bound to observe it? How can we quantify its breach? In addressing these questions, the book engages such issues as the following: reasons for disclosure - e.g., for the establishment of a defence, for the enforcement of rights, in the public interest or in the interests of justice disclosure by consent, express or implied; circumstances triggering statutory obligation of disclosure; recent trends towards greater transparency in investor-State arbitration; court measures in support of arbitral confidentiality such as award of damages for breach of confidentiality; and categories of persons bound by confidentiality, including third parties such as witnesses and experts. Structured along the main stages of the arbitral process, the analysis covers the duty of confidentiality from the initiation of arbitral proceedings through their unfolding to the issuance of the award and after. The scope of confidentiality is reviewed in the practice of arbitral tribunals and domestic courts, and from the perspective of international arbitration institutions, with detailed attention to various arbitration rules and numerous significant cases. In its elucidation of the amount of confidentiality that 'veils' each phase of the arbitral process, and its ground-breaking identification of 'patterns of disclosure', this book is sure to raise awareness about the various facets and problems posed by confidentiality in arbitration. Although its scholarly contribution to the law of international commercial arbitration cannot be gainsaid, corporate counsel worldwide will quickly prize its more practical value.

The growing acceptance of the concept of transnational rules, be they substantive or procedural, has directly contributed to a substantial decrease of the influence of local norms. Transnational principles often override domestic law, and the arbitral process sometimes takes precedence over court decisions. Moreover, the exceptional development of investment arbitration has called into question traditional values of commercial arbitration such as confidentiality and the privity of arbitral proceedings. Widespread publication of awards rendered has also rejuvenated the debate on the value of arbitral awards as precedents. This book critically explores the extent to which these phenomena contribute to the creation of a truly uniform international arbitration law.

Numerous jurisdictions worldwide have augmented their ratification of the New York Convention of 1958 with the UNCITRAL Model Law 1985 (UML), which takes a giant step forward toward global uniformity in legal application and understanding of the arbitration process. This book develops a standard or benchmark for the UML objective of uniformity, using the relevant legislation and case law of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia to consider whether a uniform approach to implementation of the UML and its interpretation is being achieved across those jurisdictions. The author’s methodological tools are eminently adaptable to other jurisdictions. Given the importance of the ability to set aside an arbitral award, the body of case law on setting aside and the directly related area of enforcement, the emphasis throughout is on Article 34. In addition, the study considers: - the meaning of uniformity in law and in the context of the UML; - the correct approach to interpretation of the UML pre and post Article 2A; - the interpretational relationship between the UML and the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG); - the relationship between the UML and the New York Convention; - the degree of textual uniformity of Article 34 with the three jurisdictions focused on; and - the degree of applied uniformity of Article 34 both in terms of juristic methodology and similarity of results. The author, with more than thirty years of practice in the field of commercial arbitration in Hong Kong, has had access to voluminous cases spanning decades and brings his specialist expertise to the subject. This book considers whether the UML has succeeded in its aim of achieving uniformity. It serves as a guide, both academic and practical, to exploring and adopting the correct approach to the interpretation of the UML as well as to the method of classification of court decisions under the UML. This study is of immeasurable academic and practical value.

Arbitration is an essential component in business. In an age when transparency is a maxim, important issues which the laws governing arbitration currently fail to address are the extent to which disclosure of information can be constrained by private agreement along with the extent to which the duty to preserve confidentiality can be stretched. Absent a coherent legal framework and extensive qualitative and quantitative data, it is equally difficult to suggest and predict future directions. This book offers a tool for attaining centralised access to otherwise fragmentary and dispersed material, as well as a comprehensive analysis and detailed exposition of the position in relation to confidentiality in arbitration in the jurisdictions of England, USA, France and Germany.

This book not only deals with the broad application of international treaties, guidelines, laws and rules affecting international commercial arbitration, but also includes information about the most recent developments in the field. Readers learn how arbitration works, from the request to arbitrate, the selection of arbitrators, the procedures leading up to the hearing, the witnesses and evidence at the hearing, to the granting of the final award. Along the way, many strategies and tactics come into play, as an arbitration moves toward the goal of resolving the dispute. The reader learns to appreciate the application of different laws and ethical concepts that may vary by jurisdiction, including the ethical obligations of arbitrators and of counsel. Throughout, the principles of international arbitration are supported by the practice, providing a very concrete approach to the resolution of international disputes by arbitration.

Taking the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration as its basis, this concise and accessible book presents a cutting-edge account of the international arbitral process. Applying a chronological approach, the book will enable readers to gain an understanding of the arbitral process from start to finish.

ICCA's Congress Series No. 12, reflecting the contributions of numerous renown arbitration experts to the 2004 ICCA Beijing Conference, commences with an overview of the current international arbitration regime in China and Hong Kong, noting both the progress that has been achieved and the work that remains to be done there. The remainder of the volume comprises two sets of papers on contemporary substantive and procedural issues in international commercial arbitration. The first set contains in-depth reports on the topical subjects of arbitration of foreign investment disputes, the granting of provisional or interim measures with respect to arbitration and the enforceability of awards, supplemented by commentary from the point of view of various specializations and regions. The second, also using the format of reports and commentary, addresses modalities of conciliation and settlement in relation to arbitration, including various non-binding (ADR) processes, issues (drafting step clauses and confidentiality) in integrated dispute resolution systems, which may combine conciliation and arbitration, and the role of arbitrators as settlement facilitators.