The Influence of Quarantine COVID-Restrictions Related and Policy of Digitalization on Dispute Resolution via International Commercial Arbitration

Abstract

The article deals with the study of the latest challenges for the institute of international commercial arbitration in connection with the pandemic of coronavirus infection COVID-19 and to the study of the impact of the concomitant introduction of digitalization tools at different stages of arbitration. Special attention is paid to establishing the reasons for the smaller negative impact of the pandemic on the institutions of alternative dispute resolution compared to the system of state justice. The paper proves that at the level of arbitration institutions there is a coordinated and balanced response to the challenges of the pandemic, which is expressed in the assurance of business and, consequently, potential parties in the dispute, in continuing the proper functioning of the institution and its administration even in the latest conditions, and in the development of guidelines and similar documents, the implementation of virtual arbitration practices. The measures taken by the leading arbitration institution of Ukraine — ICAC at the Ukrainian CCI in response to quarantine restrictions were identified, and the prospects for further development of international commercial arbitration in Ukraine and the world in the coming years were analysed. The author summarizes that the analysis of innovations and prospects studied in scientific work regarding the further evolution of digitalization tools in the arbitration process, allows us to agree with the forecasts proposed in the report of ICAC at the Ukrainian CCI for 2020. At the same time, it is possible to add that already introduced mechanisms, such as document-only production, fast-track arbitration, Med-Arb, etc., will be more widely used in the practice of international commercial arbitration. It is further argued that even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the changes it has brought and the virtualization and digitalization of the arbitration process will not lose popularity and become firmly entrenched in international commercial arbitration, reforming the institution to integrate modern technological progress realities at all stages of arbitration.