Arbitration Services Research Articles

Effect of Alternative Dispute Resolution on VAT Compliance Among Tax Agents in Nairobi County, Kenya

Purpose: Tax is a vital source of government revenue in almost all countries in the world as it ensures that the government can offer goods and services to the general public. Therefore, tax compliance is critical in all economies, which recognize the role played by revenue collected from tax in national development. The key aim of the current study was to establish the effect of alternative dispute resolution on value added tax compliance among tax agents in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the theory of conflict of management. Methodology: The study adopted an explanatory research design. The study targeted 321 agents in Nairobi County while the sample size was 178 respondents. In this study, 178 out of 134 distributed questionnaires were completed and returned correctly, achieving a 75% response rate. The study used primary data, which was collected through questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. A linear regression model was used to establish the strength of the relationship between independent and dependent study variables. Results: Alternative Dispute Resolution also exhibits a positive and significant correlation with VAT Compliance, with a coefficient of β =0.093 p<0.05. Conclusion: The study recommended that the KRA should enhance its alternative dispute resolution mechanisms by providing clear guidelines, increasing the availability of mediation and arbitration services, and ensuring that tax agents are well-informed about these options. Future research should examine the impact of the regulatory framework on VAT compliance.

La crisi familiare e le giurisdizioni religiose negli Stati Uniti: tensioni tra separatismo e pluralismo nel sistema delle ADR

Familiar crisis and religious jurisdictions the United States: tensions between separatism and pluralism in the ADR system ABSTRACT: In the United States, religious denominations play a central role in the out-of-court resolution of disputes. In fact, religious groups provide negotiation facilitation, mediation and arbitration services, according to models of increasing procedural complexity and binding nature. The contribution will illustrate case law guidelines about law enforcement of Jewish and Islamic judgements in familiar matters. I will focus on attempts of secular courts to mediate between opposing demands: the security of legal statuses, the maintenance of social stability and public order, the protection of rights of the individual, the deflation of civil litigation, the greater confidence of litigants towards the minister of religion acting as judge. In the conclusion, I will evaluate the impact of these trends on the intercultural paradigm that characterizes the American pluralist legal system. SOMMARIO: 1. Le ADR religiose negli Stati Uniti tra luci e ombre - 2. Pactum suprema lex esto? Il riconoscimento dei lodi arbitrali emessi dai tribunal rabbinici in sede di divorzio - 3. Il diritto familiare musulmano tra ostracismo e neutralità - 4. E pluribus unum? Il molteplice e il singolo di fronte allegiurisdizioni religiose nella società americana

Research on the Modernization of China Foreign Commercial Arbitration: From the Perspective of Building an International Commercial Arbitration Center

Under the background of social change and the great development of "Belt and Road" policy, China's international commercial arbitration is facing a higher level of development needs. In order to solve the existing problems, draw on the experience of the world's advanced international arbitration centers, improve the concept of arbitration, and improve the level of arbitration services, China should take the goal of building a China international commercial arbitration center comparable to the world-class level, and constantly explore the development path of arbitration. This paper analyzes the present situation and trend of international commercial arbitration in China, discusses the connotation and value of China international commercial arbitration center, put forward from government relations, institutional development, system architecture, modernization can assign four aspects to improve the arbitration center construction scheme, and innovatively put forward the horizontal and vertical two lines and special assigned to the development of the framework. Accordingly, China's international commercial arbitration system should be continuously improved, the credibility and discourse power of China's international commercial arbitration should be enhanced, and China should build an international arbitration brand with Chinese characteristics.

ADR and Workplace Conflict - A Podcast Analysis Nigeria, Britain and the US

The decline of union representation and the introduction of legal incentives for workers to resolve individual employment disputes without resorting to the courts has unequivocally made Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) increasingly prominent in the British industrial relations landscape. The conciliation service offered by the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has been the most important sign and driver of this change. Although ADR has been encouraged in Western jurisdictions, particularly in the United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States (US), as a means to reduce time and litigation costs in relation to employment tribunal claims, the scarcity of scholarly publications, particularly on the benefits of utilising mediation or conciliation to settle workplace disputes is frankly unacceptable. On the other hand, Nigerian workers or employees are not encouraged or have little or no awareness of resolving workplace disputes or conflicts via ADR due to a lack of sensitisation in most organisations and a dearth of scholarly research on ADR to settle conflicts or workplace disputes in Nigeria, particularly with Mediation and Conciliation. This lack of awareness is a grave oversight compared to the UK. While British workers are encouraged to lodge their disputes with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Services (ACAS) before proceeding to an employment tribunal claim, Nigerian counterparts settle via the National Industrial Court (NIC) ADR, which is not always adequate. However, some sectors in Nigeria, like the Trade Unions, are quite complex, particularly disputes emanating from the Maritime Industry, which are hardly settled via ADR, unlike their UK counterparts. Hence, the jurisdictions mentioned above have different patterns and modus operandi for resolving workplace conflicts or disputes, and these will be meticulously examined in this paper. Additionally, the paper scrutinises the reason why the minister of labour and employment has so much power accorded or bequest to him to apprehend and refer a disputed award to the National Industrial Court (NIC) ADR. The paper employs a comparative and, for the first time, podcast analysis of workplace disputes in Nigeria and Britain, focusing on the different patterns of settling Workplace Conflicts such as discrimination, bullying and harassment. The paper concludes by unequivocally highlighting the benefits of mediation and its relevance to various entities involved in Workplace conflicts or disputes. Keywords: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Workplace Conflict, Access to Labour Justice, Employment Relations, Human Resource Management, Podcast, Awareness.

Arbitrase Online di Masa Pandemi:

In this pandemic situation, the need for online arbitration services is very urgent, especially for the business community. As a country with a majority of the Muslim population, Indonesia has established Basyarnas as an alternative dispute resolution institution based on sharia law. In the era of globalization, business disputes that occur today are not on disputes between citizens or legal entities originating from Indonesia only, but also, include disputes that have a cross-border nature, either because of the differences in the domicile of the parties or because of the choice of foreign law clause. This research will study the role and readiness of Basyarnas in resolving cross-border disputes. Besides that, the implications of the arbitration award issued by Basyarnas will also be studied from disputes that contain foreign elements. These two problems will be studied using a normative legal research method with a statutory and conceptual approach. Through this research, it can be concluded that: first, Basyarnas as a sharia arbitral award in Indonesia should have competence and ability to handle sharia disputes that are cross-border; and second, because of the existence of foreign elements in sharia relationship from both parties, it is necessary to recognize sharia arbitral award in the country where the assets are located.

Arbitration Agreements in Commercial Aviation Contracts and the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation

An overview of the use of arbitration agreements in commercial aviation contracts, especially lease agreements, with particular reference to the establishment of the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation (‘Hague CAA’) in July 2022. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration agreements, as an alternative to state court jurisdiction clauses, in commercial aviation contracts, surveys the current provision of arbitration services to the aviation sector, examines the service offered by the Hague CAA and analyses the potential benefits and risks of writing Hague CAA arbitration agreements into new leases and contracts. Aviation, arbitration, court, enforcement, Hague, insurance, jurisdiction

Between Brazilian Arbitration and European Arbitration: A study about the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) and the Office of Communications (OFCOM)

The search for arbitration as a means of resolving disputes is important due to the large volume of cases submitted to the judgment of the State - judge, in a number inversely proportional to the technical preparation of those who are invested in the jurisdictional function by state act. Currently, talking about extrajudicial settlement of conflicts in the field of regulation means entering a scenario of great discussions and debates. In this way, the text seeks to build reasons for the resolution of disputes in the field of telecommunications through arbitration, including, in view of the European experience, such as OFCOM. One of the duties of the regulatory agencies is precisely the solution of conflicts between players in the sector at the administrative level. When analyzing the forms of dispute resolution in the European Union, a peculiar behavior can be highlighted. In major disputes that occur on the continent, it is more common to use arbitration than the judiciary. In fact, arbitration can be used by ANATEL as an important tool to ensure a broad, free and fair competition between providers of telecommunications services, as it dodges the slowness of the judiciary and the possibility of sham litigations, enabling the rapid adoption of a decision that often affects the rights of a large number of users of telecommunications services. The high prestige enjoyed by these methods of dispute resolution pays homage to their characteristic of being a neutral forum positioned far from a regulatory agency of a specific country and close to referees chosen by common agreement, or even connected to international institutions that provide the arbitration services in commercial disputes.

Building an international arbitration hub: China’s competitiveness and direction

Building an international arbitration hub or a regional international arbitration hub has become the development goal and future direction of many countries and regions. The Chinese arbitration community has also been exploring the possibility of establishing an international arbitration hub in China. By issuing the Several Opinions on Promoting the Sound Development of the Maritime Industry in 2015 and the Plan for Further Deepening the Reform and Opening-up of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2017, the State Council of the PRC deployed a key task, that is, to develop a modern shipping service industry (including maritime arbitration), and further set the goal of “exploring the establishment of a national arbitration legal service alliance for pilot free trade zones and an exchange and cooperation mechanism for Asia-Pacific arbitration institutions, so as to accelerating the formation of a global-oriented Asia-Pacific arbitration hub in China”. In this context, China has initiated the revision of the Arbitration Law of the People’s Republic of China, and foreign-related arbitration institutions in China have invested considerable resources in exploring ways to improve their level of arbitration services. In this article, the authors will discuss whether China has the competitive advantages to establish an international arbitration hub and its possible direction of efforts from the perspective of comparative analysis of several major countries, regions or institutions that are currently in the leading position in the global arbitration service industry.

A general model of optimal energy storage operation in the market conditions

In liberalized electricity markets, energy storage devices, especially those with high capacity, can generate income through multiple services. In this paper, a general model of energy storage operation, suitable for different optimizations and comparisons of various storage technologies in market-oriented power systems, is presented. The objective function maximizes the possible income of storage units (based on the daily operation cycle) earned from energy arbitration and several ancillary services, considering various constraints and market rules for service providers. The mixed integer linear programming (MILP) optimization technique is used to solve the objective function. In numerical examples, the optimal operation modes and possible incomes for typical battery and typical pumped storage hydropower plant (PSHP), using the achieved electricity market prices of energy and the ancillary services (regulation-up, regulation-down and spinning reserve services) in one year, were compared. The influence of the efficiency coefficient, as well as the influence of various PSHP inflows on storage policy, were investigated. The proposed model has proven robust and applicable for various analyses of storage unit operations. The performed numerical calculations have shown that with the decreasing of storage device efficiency coefficient, the incomes generated through ancillary services become more significant.

Mandatory Arbitration and Prison Services Contracts: How Private Companies Exploit the Incarcerated and Consumers to Reject Meaningful Accountability

This Comment considers a previously unexamined, and particularly vile, consequence of the movement towards consumer arbitration clauses: their impact on incarcerated people and their families. Incarceration is physically, emotionally, and financially ruinous for both the incarcerated and for families who are routinely forced to subsidize their loved one’s incarceration through paying for things like phone calls and basic needs that prisons fail to meet. The burden on families has only increased as governments have contracted various aspects of correctional systems out to private companies that charge exorbitant prices for basic services, knowing full well that consumers have no choice but to comply if they want to provide for and stay connected to incarcerated loved ones. This system would be inhumane enough without the added element of forced arbitration. This Comment hopes to shine a light on how mandatory arbitration clauses make an already exploitative situation all the worse. Not only are families of the incarcerated charged outrageous and illegal prices to communicate with and protect their loved ones, but mandatory arbitration ensures that they have no real ability to hold responsible companies accountable.

Entre a Arbitragem Brasileira e a Arbitragem Europeia: Um estudo acerca da Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) e a Office of Comunications (OFCOM)

A procura pela arbitragem como meio de resolucao de litigios se mostra importante em funcao do grande volume de causas submetidas ao julgamento do Estado - juiz, em numero inversamente proporcional ao preparo tecnico daqueles que sao investidos na funcao jurisdicional por ato estatal. Atualmente, falar em composicao extrajudicial de conflitos no campo da regulacao significa adentrar em um cenario de grandes discussoes e debates. Dessa forma, o texto busca construir razoes para a resolucao de litigios no âmbito das telecomunicacoes por meio da arbitragem, inclusive, face a experiencia europeia, a exemplo da OFCOM. One of the duties of the regulatory agencies is precisely the solution of conflicts between players in the sector at the administrative level. When analyzing the forms of dispute resolution in the European Union, a peculiar behavior can be highlighted. In major disputes that occur on the continent, it is more common to use arbitration than the judiciary. In fact, arbitration can be used by ANATEL as an important tool to ensure a broad, free and fair competition between providers of telecommunications services, as it dodges the slowness of the judiciary and the possibility of sham litigations, enabling the rapid adoption of a decision that often affects the rights of a great number of users of telecommunications services. The high prestige enjoyed by these methods of dispute resolution pays homage to their characteristic of being a neutral forum positioned far from a regulatory agency of a specific country and close to referees chosen by common agreement, or even connected to international institutions that provide the arbitration services in commercial disputes.

Paradigm shift; the emergence of arbitral forum shopping in CPEC investment disputes

Purpose The phenomena of arbitral forum shopping to resolve a commercial investment dispute is still under development and more complicated in many states. However, for Pakistan, it seems in an evolutionary phase, where the country is struggling hard to adopt the best practice of dispute resolution through forum shopping clauses. This struggle is even more inflated with huge Chinese investment through China Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) projects in Pakistan, which come alongside with commercial investment disputes. For this purpose, the current treaty or contract-based system between China and Pakistan and litigation based domestic civil court structure look obsolete, hence, appear to require reinstatement of forum shopping clauses under concerned treaties or contracts for CPEC investment-related issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors choose a legal research method. The research design is a comparative analysis between CPEC contracts and dispute resolution mechanism between China and Pakistan and also the domestic civil court’s litigation system. This analysis selected by the authors due to inefficient bilateral investment arrangements and efficient resolution of future commercial disputes in CPEC. While the international arbitration system is included in the assessment were particular in the time and space context. The comparison comprises on dispute resolution clauses in free trade agreement (FTA) and bilateral investment treaties (BIT) between China and Pakistan and the system of resolving disputes by CPEC clauses. Findings The authors finds that in the absence of CPEC forum shopping clause under dispute resolution system, Pakistan is highly at risk to lose foreign investors, and therefore, set back the goal of long term economic sustainability in the region. However, China has already made its investment policies safer with establishing three international commercial courts (also referred to as Belt and Road courts), one in Xi’an for the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt, one in Shenzhen for the Maritime Silk Road and one in Beijing that will serve as the headquarters. These courts will be offering litigation, arbitration and mediation services. According to one view, China aims to have all belt and road initiative (BRI) disputes resolved by these courts. This makes Pakistan position more awkward and needs proactive measures, as CPEC investment is based on Pakistan foreign direct investment policies and legal structure. Therefore, it will be complicated and less favourable for Pakistan to deal with such cases under Chinese Courts. Originality/value The paper’s primary contribution is finding that comprehensive analysis of alternative dispute resolution mechanism between China and Pakistan over CPEC investment is inevitable. A socio-legal research combine with an examination of Singapore International Commercial Court functions and mechanism and CPEC plans further contributes to ascertain the best model of the settlement of commercial disputes under investments in Pakistan. This research paper anticipates future economic and legal problems, which Pakistan may encounter.

'One-Stop' Commercial Dispute Resolution Services: Implications for International Investment Law

Many newly-created international commercial courts are supporting integrated commercial dispute resolution services, which blur lines between litigation, arbitration, and mediation services. Such “one-stop” commercial dispute resolution services will affect international arbitration generally and investment arbitration specifically. This chapter examines the likely impact of integrated international dispute resolution services on the investment arbitration regime in three respects: institutionalization, transparency, and enforcement. The chapter reaches the following conclusions. Regarding institutionalization, integrated dispute resolution services likely will contribute to the building momentum for greater institutionalization within the investment arbitration regime. Regarding transparency, integrated dispute resolution services likely will give rise to additional transparency gains within the regime by placing even greater attention on the need for coherent development of law, which requires public access to decision-making. Regarding enforcement, integrated dispute resolution services likely will narrow the existing enforceability gap between arbitral awards, on the one hand, and court judgments and mediated settlement agreements, on the other. A narrower enforceability gap would reduce the significance of one of the key advantages of international arbitration: an unmatched global enforcement regime. The diminished significance of that advantage likely would place additional pressure on the investment arbitration regime to address key vulnerabilities, notably recurrent perceptions of incoherent jurisprudence and arbitrator conflicts of interest.

Prospects for Developing Sports Arbitration in Kosovo

Recent developments and success stories related to Kosovo sports convey the necessity to explore the legal infrastructure related to sports. Only this year, Kosovo made an international breakthrough in sports by getting admission in both UEFA and FIFA, and its sportswomen made history by winning the first ever-gold Olympic medal in Rio2016. Last year, Kosovo was granted admission to FIBA, thus becoming its 215th member. The internationalization of the Kosovo sport demands the establishment of an effective and efficient sports system aligned to rules of international sports associations, EU law and other international standards, as well as sound institutional infrastructure that will implement this regulatory framework. Along with the development of the sports law, many countries have also developed national sports arbitration bodies thus providing to sports organizations, members of the national Olympic Committees and other interested parties, a forum where they can refer their contractual disputes related to sport. In Kosovo, arbitration law has received a significant attention during the last couple of years and two arbitration centers have been established, one with the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and another one with the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce (KCC). Both arbitration centers provide commercial arbitration services, and while commercial arbitration and sports arbitration share many characteristics, the sports arbitration, nevertheless distinguishes from non-sports-related arbitration in many aspects. Sports-related disputes are facilitated with procedural rules specifically adapted to sports thus ensuring speed, special expertise, and last but not the least, consistency and transparency. In addition, sports-related arbitration bodies also serve as a final court of appeal for disciplinary cases. The aim of the present paper is to examine Kosovo’s current legal and institutional infrastructure related to sports and present some findings with regard to the level of its conformity with EU and international standards, as well as to look into the possibilities of creation of a national sports arbitration body for settlement of sports-related disputes. In this regard, the paper will take into account best practices of other countries, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and recent case law in this regard.

Entre a Arbitragem Brasileira e a Arbitragem Europeia: Um estudo acerca da Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL) e a Office of Comunications (OFCOM)

Propósito – A procura pela arbitragem como meio de resolução de litígios se mostra importante em função do grande volume de causas submetidas ao julgamento do Estado-juiz, em número inversamente proporcional ao preparo técnico daqueles que são investidos na função jurisdicional por ato estatal. Atualmente, falar em composição extrajudicial de conflitos no campo da regulação significa adentrar em um cenário de grandes discussões e debates. Dessa forma, o texto busca construir razões para a resolução de litígios no âmbito das telecomunicações por meio da arbitragem, inclusive, face a experiência europeia, a exemplo da OFCOM.
 Metodologia/Abordagem/Design – Inicialmente será feita uma análise histórica acerca da arbitragem. Num momento posterior, discutir-se-á o fenômeno da regulação e a vinculação com o campo da arbitragem. Logo depois, será feita uma análise das experiências brasileira e europeia. Por fim, dados serão levantados para evidenciar os motivos que levam a diferenciar o modelo brasileiro do europeu.
 Resultados – Uma das atribuições das agências reguladoras é, justamente, a solução de conflitos entre os agentes do setor, algo que na Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (ANATEL), é realizado em sua maioria apenas em nível administrativo. Quando se analisam as formas de resolução de disputas na Comunidade Europeia, observa-se uma realidade peculiar. Em grandes disputas que ocorrem no continente, é mais comum utilizar-se a arbitragem do que o próprio Poder Judiciário. Em verdade, a arbitragem pode ser utilizada pela ANATEL como uma ferramenta importante na garantia de uma ampla, livre e justa concorrência entre as prestadoras de serviços de telecomunicações, na medida em que coíbe a morosidade do Poder Judiciário e a possibilidade de discussões meramente protelatórias, viabilizando a prolação célere de uma decisão que, muitas vezes, afetará a esfera jurídica de praticamente todos os usuários dos serviços de telecomunicações. Confere-se, assim, um grande prestígio a esses métodos de resolução de disputas, na medida em que eles propiciam uma neutralidade de foro. Não se confere a decisão ao Poder Judiciário ou ao órgão regulador de um país específico, mas escolhem-se árbitros a partir do comum acordo das partes ou, ainda, apontam-se instituições de âmbito internacional que prestam o serviço de arbitragem em disputas comerciais.

LEMBAGA ARBITRASE ISLAM DI INDONESIA

A dispute is a social problem thatdirectly in contact with the law and require solving integrally. Each order of society has various ways to get agreement in the proceedings or to resolve disputes among them. The People nowadays are starting to abandon habitual ways resorting to formal ways provided by law that are recognized by the state. There are various kinds of way to dispute in the society that each has particular strengths and weaknesses, one of them is arbitration. In Indonesia, National Sharia Arbitration Board as one of the institutions that offering arbitration services to the business sector economics Islam or business based on sharia. Keywords : Arbitration, Dispute, Basyarnas.

Islamic Banking in Malaysia: Arbitration Resolution of Financial Disputes and Obstacles to its Spread

Purpose: the article examines the main problems associated with the extension of arbitration of domestic and international Islamic financial disputes in Malaysia. These include the specific features of the legal regulation of Malaysia, excluding the resolution of certain categories of cases by way of arbitration, and the lack of legal certainty in the submission of cross-border contracts in the field of Islamic banking to Sharia law. To achieve this goal in the article you must accomplish the following tasks: to determine whether there are institutions in Malaysia providing arbitration services for disputes in the field of Islamic banking; investigate the reasons for the unwillingness of the parties to a financial dispute to transfer it to arbitration; to identify the main problems of transferring a cross-border financial dispute to international arbitration; to study the practice of international arbitration on this issue. Methods: this article is based on an interdisciplinary concept of research, which allowed to distinguish the distinctive features of the legal regulation of the settlement of financial disputes in Malaysia. Results: currently the popularization of arbitration permits for domestic and international financial disputes in Malaysia faces difficulties due to both internal reasons and the traditional approach of Islamic banks to include in contracts the reservation of subordination of the provisions of the contract to the law of England or the United States in conjunction with the reservation clause financial disputes in the courts and arbitration of these states. Nevertheless, one can assume with great confidence that, following the development of Islamic banking, so-called Islamic arbitration will spread in Malaysia. Conclusions and Relevance: the materials outlined in the article show the special role of arbitration in resolving domestic and international disputes in the field of Islamic banking. Practical application of its results will improve the Russian legislation in the sphere of resolving financial disputes.

The Thirteenth Five-Year (2016-2020) Plan and Hong Kong

What are the implications of the Thirteenth Five-Year (2016-2020) Plan for Economic and Social Development of China for Hong Kong? While the Plan is mostly indicative even for the Mainland, and certainly not mandatory for Hong Kong, it does express support for Hong Kong to continue to develop as an international financial center (and the leading offshore Renminbi center), a center for innovation and an international legal, arbitration and mediation services center. Moreover, it also supports Hong Kong playing an active role in the “One Belt, One Road” initiative as well as the economic development of the Pearl River Delta region. It is, however, up to Hong Kong itself to devise a plan and a strategy to take advantage of these opportunities, which can be win-win for both the Mainland and Hong Kong.

上海自贸区知识产权纠纷多元解决机制的完善

随着知识产权纠纷的激增，合理运用替代性纠纷解决方式，构建高效的知识产权纠纷解决机制，已成为释放知识产权的经济社会效益的重要途径。本文通过介绍和分析上海自贸区知识产权纠纷的替代性解决制度的现状及不足，提出了深化改革的方向：向国内外其他仲裁机构开放上海自贸区的仲裁服务；在自贸区引入临时仲裁制度；提高民间调解和仲裁机构化解纠纷的能力；强化上海自贸区诉讼与非诉讼相衔接的知识产权纠纷解决机制。 Nowadays, with the sharp increase of intellectual property disputes, it’s recognized that ADR me-chanisms play a more and more important role in resolving IP disputes and, therefore, become an influential way to exert the economic and social benefits of IP. This article introduces and analyzes the present situation of IP ADR mechanisms in Shanghai Free Trade Zone and comes up with the following reforming suggestion: opening the market of arbitration services in Shanghai FTZ to other arbitration organizations both in domestic and overseas areas; introducing the system of ad hoc arbitration into Shanghai FTZ; improving non-governmental mediation and arbitration or-ganizations’ ability to resolve disputes; strengthening the mechanisms of combining litigation with non-litigation to resolve IP disputes in Shanghai FTZ Court.

Key to Efficiency in International Arbitration

Most arbitration lawyers and users of arbitration services would probably agree that efficiency is a key issue in international arbitration, or that efficiency of arbitration is a key issue.2 However, these two ways of stating the issue tend to beg it: the key to efficiency lies, precisely, in the distinction between efficiency in arbitration and efficiency of arbitration—in this hardly noticeable distinction between “in” and “of.” Efficiency in arbitration is about ensuring efficiency after the dispute has arisen. Efficiency of arbitration is about ensuring efficiency before the dispute has arisen. When considering efficiency in arbitration, we look at arbitration from the inside, as arbitration counsel and arbitrators. When considering efficiency of arbitration, we look at arbitration from the outside, from the user’s perspective. The key is to distinguish between the two perspectives. As Yves Derains recently noted, in international arbitration, due process always trumps efficiency.3 This is not to suggest that efficiency is not important in international arbitration; it certainly is, but it is always secondary to due process. Once an arbitration proceeding is underway, the task of the arbitrator is to ensure compliance with due process, and if there is a conflict between due process and efficiency, due process will always prevail.