Publish time: Thu Feb 14 08:42:05 CST 2019
From February 4 to February 8, 2019, the UNCITRAL Working Group II: (Dispute Settlement) 69th Session was held at the U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S.. 40 UNCITRAL memeber states, 16 observing states, 2 inter-governmental organizations and 29 non-governmental organizations have sent their delegations to attend this session as observers. The Beijing Arbitration Commission / Beijing International Arbitration Center (the “BAC”), as an invited observer, sent a delegation consisted of Mr. Zhang Haoliang, Director of the BAC Business Development (International Case Management) Division, Mr. Yang Xiaochuan and Mr. Liu Kefu, Arbitrators of the BAC, and Ms. Zhang Xi, Case Manager of the BAC, to attend this session.
The session
In recent years, the expedited arbitration procedures have been a focus of numerous arbitration insitutions as a response to concerns among international arbitration users about the rising arbitration costs and the lengthier arbitral proceedings making arbitration similar to litigation. The UNCITRAL has paid attention to this trend, and, as agreed upon at the 51th Session, authorized the Working Group II to review issues related to expedited arbitration, with the hope to provide solutions to improve the arbitration efficiency, lower the arbitration costs and shorten the time duration of arbitration, based on the premise of balancing the demand of rapid resolusion of disputes and the respect to due process.
This was the first meeting on expedited arbitration. By convention, Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, Secretary General of the UNCITRAL, organized the member states to elect Mr. Andrés Jana from Chile the chairman of Working Group II, and Mr. Takashi Takashima from Japan the Rapporteur.
Following the election, the session started its substantive deliberation. Based on the UNCITRAL document A/CN.9/WG.II/WP.207, Mr. Jana organized the member states to discuss and determine the work scope of the Working Group, which included: firstly, to discuss and establish an international framework on expedited arbitration; secondly, to give due consideration to the impacts of emergency arbitrator, adjudication and early dismissal of claims on expedited arbitration; thirdly, relevant discussions should be in the context of commercial arbitration, without excluding a reconsideration of the impact this mechanism might have on other types of arbitrations (investor-State arbitration) at a later stage; fourthly, to have discussion over factors related to expedited arbitration, including due process and fairness, enforceability of the award and the criteria for the application of expedited procedures; fifthly, to consider how the work of the Working Group was to be presented, which might include a separate set of rules on expeidted arbitration, amendments to the existing UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, guidelines for the parties and arbitral tribunals, model clauses that could be adopted into contracts or guidance to arbitral institutions on expedited procedures.
In the five-day session, the member states had the first round of discussion on issues within the work scope. Firstly, it was agreed by most member states that in expedited arbitration, the arbitral tribunal should be consisted of a sole arbitrator, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. Secondly, the majority of the member states believed that a case management meeting is a necessary for the efficiency of the arbitral proceedings, and that it should be encouraged to make provisions on the timing of the arbitral tribunal’s first case management meeting. Some member states were of the opinion that it is unnecessary to set a time limit on the tribunal’s convening of case management meetings, but provisions could be properly made on when the tribunal shall render its first procedural order. Thirdly, the majority of the member states deemed it necessary to set an overall time limit for expedited arbitration, and with respect to the internal time limit in the arbitral proceedings, such as the time limits for submission of defence and evidence, the discretion could be given to the arbitral tribunal. Fourthly, some member states thought that necessary limits could be made on whether a hearing is to be held. However, most other member states expressed their concerns over such proposal, worrying that in the absence of the parties’ express consent, a documents-only arbitration based on the arbitral tribunal’s own discretion might lead to the risk of due process, thereby bringing adverse impact on the enforcement of the arbitral award. In addition, the member states also exchanges their views on the financial threshold and other criteria in respect of determining the application of expedited arbitration procedures, the appointing authorities in ad hoc expedited arbitrations and authority thereof. In light this session was the first meeting of the Working Group II on expedited arbitration, the discussion was still in its infancy, and many member states promised to provide more valuable advice and solutions.
As the last item on the agenda, Mr. Jana organized all the member states to review and pass the summary report of this session article by article, which completed the 69th Session of the Working Group II.
The BAC delegation has taken part in all the deliberations and discussions during the five-day session, providing observation comments from eight perspectives such as the number of arbitrators, the time limit and the financial threshold in expedited procedures, and highlighting the BAC’s rules on expedited arbitration and its practice of efficient dealing with arbitration under such rules, which have aroused attention from the whole Working Group.
Mr. Zhang Haoliang
Mr. Yang Xiaochuan
Mr. Liu Kefu
Ms. Zhang Xi
During the session, the BAC delegation also attended the symposium on international arbitration and insolvency held by the UNCITRAL and the symposium on Singapore Convention on Mediation held by the New York International Arbitration Center. Apart from that, the BAC delegation had positive communications and exchanges with the member states’ representatives, and presented the Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (2018) to part of the representatives.
The BAC delegation
The BAC delegation presented books to the Singaporean delegation and the Russian Arbitration Association representative
The BAC endeavors to provide the parties with first-class dispute resolution services. Professionals from various areas are welcome to continue to pay attention to the BAC’s diversified dispute resolution practice, and participate in all kinds of events launched by the BAC. You are also welcome to pay attention to the BAC’s website and WeChat account for more information.