After neutrality and international enforcement, the next most valued feature of international commercial arbitration is confidentiality. For reasons easy to imagine, businessmen do not want their trade secrets, business plans, strategies, contracts, financial results or any other types of business information to be publicly accessible, as would commonly happen in court proceedings. Yet the case law of arbitration shows that in practical terms confidentiality is not to be taken for granted - in fact, it has become one of the most undetermined matters in international arbitration. Although 'the emperor of arbitration may have clothes, ' as one scholar has quipped, his raiments of secrecy can be 'torn with surprising ease'. This book deciphers the current degree of confidentiality in international commercial arbitration as reflected by the most important arbitration rules, national laws, other arbitration-related enactments, and practices of arbitral tribunals and domestic courts globally. Drawing on this data and analysis, the author then sets forth criteria to assess the breach of confidentiality in international arbitration and the proper rules for protecting or sanctioning such breaches. What do we understand by confidentiality in arbitration? What are its limitations? Who is bound to observe it? How can we quantify its breach? In addressing these questions, the book engages such issues as the following: reasons for disclosure - e.g., for the establishment of a defence, for the enforcement of rights, in the public interest or in the interests of justice disclosure by consent, express or implied; circumstances triggering statutory obligation of disclosure; recent trends towards greater transparency in investor-State arbitration; court measures in support of arbitral confidentiality such as award of damages for breach of confidentiality; and categories of persons bound by confidentiality, including third parties such as witnesses and experts. Structured along the main stages of the arbitral process, the analysis covers the duty of confidentiality from the initiation of arbitral proceedings through their unfolding to the issuance of the award and after. The scope of confidentiality is reviewed in the practice of arbitral tribunals and domestic courts, and from the perspective of international arbitration institutions, with detailed attention to various arbitration rules and numerous significant cases. In its elucidation of the amount of confidentiality that 'veils' each phase of the arbitral process, and its ground-breaking identification of 'patterns of disclosure', this book is sure to raise awareness about the various facets and problems posed by confidentiality in arbitration. Although its scholarly contribution to the law of international commercial arbitration cannot be gainsaid, corporate counsel worldwide will quickly prize its more practical value.

Arbitration is an essential component in business. In an age when transparency is a maxim, important issues which the laws governing arbitration currently fail to address are the extent to which disclosure of information can be constrained by private agreement along with the extent to which the duty to preserve confidentiality can be stretched. Absent a coherent legal framework and extensive qualitative and quantitative data, it is equally difficult to suggest and predict future directions. This book offers a tool for attaining centralised access to otherwise fragmentary and dispersed material, as well as a comprehensive analysis and detailed exposition of the position in relation to confidentiality in arbitration in the jurisdictions of England, USA, France and Germany.

The book deals with confidentiality as one of the most controversial issues in international commercial arbitration. On the one hand, it is widely recognized that confidentiality is an important advantage of arbitration which contributes to its attractiveness. On the other hand, there is no uniform regulation in national legislations, arbitration rules, and other relevant sources as to the scope or even to the existence of a duty of confidentiality. A uniform approach to confidentiality of international commercial arbitration is possible. The best way to achieve it would be through harmonization of national arbitration laws which should impose a confidentiality obligation subject to certain exceptions. The purpose of maintaining confidentiality would be to protect primarily the parties from undesirable leaks that can be avoided and to protect arbitration as an institution. As to a systematic publication of arbitral awards without identifying the parties’ identity, it is desirable and should be the goal.

The book deals with confidentiality as one of the most controversial issues in international commercial arbitration. On the one hand, it is widely recognized that confidentiality is an important advantage of arbitration which contributes to its attractiveness. On the other hand, there is no uniform regulation in national legislations, arbitration rules, and other relevant sources as to the scope or even to the existence of a duty of confidentiality. A uniform approach to confidentiality of international commercial arbitration is possible. The best way to achieve it would be through harmonization of national arbitration laws which should impose a confidentiality obligation subject to certain exceptions. The purpose of maintaining confidentiality would be to protect primarily the parties from undesirable leaks that can be avoided and to protect arbitration as an institution. As to a systematic publication of arbitral awards without identifying the parties’ identity, it is desirable and should be the goal.

This book provides a systematic and comprehensive study of the legal concept of equity as it operates in contemporary international law. A principle with a long pedigree, equity has been present in legal thought and in municipal legal systems since antiquity. Introduced in international legal decisions through claims commissions and arbitral tribunals, equity became progressively part and parcel of the international law mainstream. From international cultural heritage law to the law on climate change, from maritime boundary delimitations to decisions on security for costs in investment arbitration, the relevance of equity is more far-reaching than has previously been acknowledged. In contrast with earlier studies on the topic, this book is informed by a body of judicial and arbitral case law that has never been so substantial and varied. It also draws extensively on the prolific case law of investment tribunals, gaining insights from a valuable source that is typically overlooked in public international law scholarship. As the importance of international law increases, covering continuously new domains, the value of equity increases with it. It is this new equity in the international law of the 21st century that this book explores.

The second edition of Gary Born's International Commercial Arbitration is an authoritative 4,408 page treatise, in three volumes, providing the most comprehensive commentary and analysis, on all aspects of the international commercial arbitration process, that is available. The first edition of International Commercial Arbitration is widely acknowledged as the preeminent commentary in the field. It was awarded the 2011 Certificate of Merit by the American Society of International Law and was voted the International Dispute Resolution Book of the Year by the Oil, Gas, Mining and Infrastructure Dispute Management list serve in 2010. The first edition has been extensively cited in national court decisions and arbitral awards around the world. The treatise comprehensively examines the law and practice of contemporary international commercial arbitration, thoroughly explicating all relevant international conventions, national arbitration statutes and institutional arbitration rules. It focuses on both international instruments (particularly the New York Convention) and national law provisions in all leading jurisdictions (including the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration). Practitioners, academics, clients, institutions and other users of international commercial arbitration will find clear and authoritative guidance in this work. The second edition of International Commercial Arbitration has been extensively revised, expanded and updated, to include all material legislative, judicial and arbitral authorities in the field of international arbitration prior to January 2014. It also includes expanded treatment of annulment, recognition of awards, counsel ethics, arbitrator independence and impartiality and applicable law. Overview of volumes: Volume I, covering International Arbitration Agreements,provides a comprehensive discussion of international commercial arbitration agreements. It includes chapters dealing with the legal framework for enforcing international arbitration agreements; the separability presumption; choice of law; formation and validity; nonarbitrability; competence-competence and the allocation of jurisdictional competence; the effects of arbitration agreements; interpretation and non-signatory issues. Volume II, covering International Arbitration Procedures, provides a detailed discussion of international arbitral procedures. It includes chapters dealing with the legal framework for international arbitral proceedings; the selection, challenge and replacement of arbitrators; the rights and duties of international arbitrators; selection of the arbitral seat; arbitration procedures; disclosure and discovery; provisional measures; consolidation, joinder and intervention; choice of substantive law; confidentiality; and legal representation and standards of professional conduct. Volume III, dealing with International Arbitral Awards, provides a detailed discussion of the issues arising from international arbitration awards. It includes chapters covering the form and contents of awards; the correction, interpretation and supplementation of awards; the annulment and confirmation of awards; the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards; and issues of preclusion, lis pendens and staredecisis.