Supreme Court in Centrotrade 2016: Too Quick to Nod at the Validity of the Two-Tier Arbitration Clause?

Abstract

In a decade’s time since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Centrotrade in 2006, a plethora of questions opened relating to two-tier arbitrations: What is the nature of the awards in the first and second instances; where is the appellate tribunal seated; what may be the grounds of appeal; and what authority is exercised by appellate tribunals? In 2016, nevertheless, the Supreme Court reflected upon several of these questions, and answered them using certain fundamental principles of arbitration. This piece tries to holistically understand appellate arbitrations and its entailments, and provides an alternative view as to why the Supreme Court erred in enforcing the appellate arbitration clause in Centrotrade.