Key criteria in appointment of arbitrators in international arbitration

• Author: Bazil Oglinda
• Position: Law Department, Bucharest University of Economic Studies
• Pages: 124-131

Key criteria in appointment of arbitrators in international arbitration

Lecturer Bazil OGLINDĂ

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Abstrac t

Maybe in all situati ons the most importa nt factor i s the d ecision mak ing person.

In arb itration this perso n is th e arbitrat or. Knowin g how to choose yo ur arbitrato r is the

first step in kno wing how to win your case. There are so me importa nt criteria tha t needs to

be tak en in to acc ount when app ointing an arbit rator, lik e the in dependen ce and

impartia lity of t he arbit rator, the experience in simila r cases, k nowled ge of the system of

law appli cable to t he co ntract and other backg rounds.Anoth er import ant a spect is the

number of arbitrat ors and the adv antages an d disadvan tages of having one, three or more

arbitra tors. All tho se issues are very important when drafting the arbi tration agreement

and in matte rs of compl ex contracts it is of h igh importance to have leg al advisors th at will

help you d raft an agre ement th at wil l minimize risk s and favor efficient arbit ral

proceed ings.

Keywords: arbitrat ion, app ointment, crit eria of sel ection, part y auto nomy,

indep endence an d impartiali ty.

JEL Cla ssification: K33, K41

1. Introduction

Selection of arbitrators represent the essence of arbitration as a private

dispute resolution method. The power given to the parties regarding the selection

of arbitrators has been regulated through different regulations, guidelines,

legislations or other similar documents. Nevertheless, the fact that parties in an

arbitration have the liberty, yet burden to choose the best adjudicator for their case

may lead to difficult situations, blockages and even insecurity of the arbitration

proceedings.

There are widely recognized criteria to select arbitrators, such as

impartiality, independence, honorability, availability, but, in most situations,

parties have to take into consideration much more in order to feel comfortable with

the outcome and be confident in the judgement of the arbitral tribunal.

Parties, in choosing their arbitrators are in front of decision based on both

opportunity and legality. They have to always pay attention to the mandatory

conditions imposed by law or regulations and, in the same time, they have to

compare and contrast the best person for the particularities of the case at hand.

Legislation comes to limit opportunity, because, if completely free, parties may

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Bazil Oglindă - Law D epartment, Bucharest University of Economic Studies,

bazil.oglinda@oglindalawyers.ro