The Kluwer Arbitration CD-ROM: Resources in International Commercial Arbitration

Abstract

The Kluwer Arbitration CD-ROM: Resources in International Commercial Arbitration by Kluwer Law International, with the assistance of Bette Shifman (Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague) as Special Advisor, and of an Advisory Board consisting of Stefano Azzali, Gary Born, Judy Freedberg, Dominique Hascher, Albert Jan Van Den Berg, and V.V. Veeder, QC (eds). Published by Kluwer Law International, The Hague-London-Boston. CD-ROM, updated 2 times annually. Subscription price US$1,625 (1 user), US$2,453 (2–5 users) or US$3,250 (6+ users). ISBN 90-411-1072-0. Not yet perfect, but so promising, the first-ever CD-ROM in the field of national and international commercial arbitration is on the market. Despite the existence of well-known compilations like the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration and periodicals such as Arbitration International the international arbitration field had, due mostly to the scattered multitude of its sources, never quite lost its aura of exclusivity, making research arduous and dependent on specialised law libraries and one's own networking abilities. Now, it begins to look like our computers may become one-stop shops for arbitration research. However, the appearance of this CD-ROM, precisely because it is such an important product, cannot remain without some critical observations accompanying applause and praise. First of all, the CD-ROM's infobase is impressive, but does not yet constitute a complete virtual arbitration library. Presently only some, albeit indeed very important, publications are included in the full text: ICCA's loose-leaf Handbook and its twenty-three Yearbooks, including Albert Jan van den Berg's Consolidated Commentary on the 1958 New York Convention ,1 Arbitration International, the Journal of International Arbitration, the Revue de l'Arbitrage (but only from 1996) as well as a bibliography and selected texts from the Documentation Centre of the Chamber of National and International Arbitration of Milan, Italy. The many other publications are only included in the form of entries in the extensive bibliographical section, and are not reproduced in full text. These resources must therefore still be tracked down and researched in the traditional way, if, that is, the researcher can find them at all within a reasonable time span. Surely the editors intend to expand the infobase in the near future, probably already starting with the first update. To name but one thing, the CD-ROM must be complete with regard to ICC arbitration and in that regard the full contents …