Abstract
The Paris Court of Appeal has recently held that a party was precluded from relying for the first time before it on the arbitrator’s alleged partiality based on articles authored by third parties and published in a journal co-edited by the arbitrator, whose existence and contents were notorious at the time of his appointment. To be allowed to rely on these facts in annulment proceedings, the applicant ought to have raised them before the sole arbitrator within the time limit provided for in the ICC Rules to challenge an arbitrator. A party’s failure to do so leads to the inadmissibility of its setting aside application. For an information to be notorious, it is sufficient that it be “easily accessible”. The fact that such information is contained in a database subject to a paying subscription is not sufficient to characterise a default of accessibility for arbitration professionals. Accordingly, information contained in such a database may be considered as “easily accessible”, and therefore “notorious” for arbitration practitioners. In addition, neither the scientific work freely carried out by the arbitrator in the context of his activities as editor of an arbitration journal, nor the titles and content of the articles relied upon to seek the setting aside of the award were such as to call into question the arbitrator’s impartiality.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.