Who Should Rule on Challenges of Arbitrators?
Adrian Winstanley
ABSTRACT
Arbitral institutions around the world are administering thousands of commercial arbitrations every year. Many more are proceeding ad hoc. Whilst the great majority of the arbitrators appointed to sit in these arbitrations will conduct the proceedings impartially, there will inevitably be occasions on which a party may allege bias or a lack of independence. Whether or not such allegations are well founded, parties who have entrusted the determination of their disputes to arbitration must have recourse to a body that is, itself, impartial and independent, and in which the parties may have confidence, to investigate such allegations and to determine any challenge to which they have given rise.
This article will consider who is best placed to determine such challenges.
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" - Juvenal