The Arbitration Agreement and the Parties

Abstract

Abstract An international commercial arbitration agreement is an agreement between two or more parties in which they agree to refer disputes of a commercial nature, and which have an international element, to arbitration. At one time English common law took the view that an arbitration agreement had to confer mutual rights on the parties in relation to the right to refer a dispute to arbitration.The requirement for mutuality is no longer accepted as a necessary requirement for a valid arbitration agreement and an arbitration agreement may permit either one or both of the parties to refer a dispute to arbitration.2 An arbitration agreement has been defined as a separate contract, procedural in nature3 and ancillary to the main contract which does not create substantive rights between the parties, but provides how disputes which may arise should be resolved.4 It has also been described as an agreement which creates collateral rights to the main contract.