Court Assistance in the Appointment of Arbitrators

Abstract

This essay is intended as a coda to an earlier essay that I had the privilege and pleasure of co-authoring with Bert Voskuil on the ‘Composition of the Arbitral Tribunal’ as regulated by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. In that essay, particular reference was made to the new Arbitration Act of the Netherlands. It is my intention to examine once again the UNCITRAL Model Law and to compare it with the Netherlands Arbitration Act, but narrowing the focus to court assistance in the appointment of arbitrators and the attendant question of whether the court may exercise a supervisory function at this point by examining the validity of the arbitration agreement. The point of departure is a recent Hong Kong decision in which this question was examined under the UNCITRAL Model Law, applicable to international arbitrations in Hong Kong. After reviewing the case and examining the relevant provisions of the Model Law, a comparison will be made with the Netherlands Arbitration Act.