ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR ARBITRATORS, HYBRID PROCEEDINGS, RULES OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW: ARE WE MOVING TOWARDS A UNIFORM LAW OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION?
ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR ARBITRATORS, HYBRID PROCEEDINGS, RULES OF TRANSNATIONAL LAW: ARE WE MOVING TOWARDS A UNIFORM LAW OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION?

Summary/Abstract: The article examines trends towards uniformity in three important areas of the law of international arbitration: ethical standards for arbitrators, procedures for evidence taking, and application of transnational rules of law. While there is a clear movement towards the harmonisation of legal concepts and standards in all three areas which is the result of changes in international and domestic law, the practice of international arbitral tribunals and the activities of private or intergovernmental “formulating agencies”, a comparison of developments also shows important differences. The degree of convergence which can be achieved depends on the acceptance of privately proposed rules by arbitrators, arbitral institutions and, to a certain degree, also by the courts reviewing the arbitral process. The described developments do not support the idea of the existence of an autonomous body of lex mercatoria, but provide ample evidence of a “transnationalist” attitude of arbitrators, arbitral institutions and formulating agencies, which aims at identifying and applying legal concepts to international commercial transactions which are consistent with their international character.

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