CIArb Launches Major Survey Into Costs of International Arbitration

On November 26^th, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) launched a major survey into the costs of international arbitration. According to the CIArb News:

The ‘Costs of Arbitration’ survey will gather data to inform parties, legal representatives and arbitrators about the overall costs of international commercial arbitration and how these are incurred at each stage.

The results will be analysed and presented at an international conference organised by CIArb and sponsored by Alvarez & Marsal on 27 – 28 September 2011 in London, aimed at uncovering ways in which costs might be reduced and the process streamlined to become more cost-effective and efficient.

International arbitration has a justifiable reputation as the preferred method of dispute resolution for international commercial disputes. The worldwide economic downturn has accelerated a rising trend in favour of the use of international arbitration, where the enforceability of awards under the New York Convention gives it a major advantage over litigation in national courts. Globally, governments have invested in bringing their arbitration laws up-to-date and building modern arbitration centres to capitalise on this growing market.

However, as the size and complexity of disputes referred to international arbitration has increased, so too have concerns about the growing complexity, cost and time involved in the process, diminishing some of the very factors that make it preferable to the courts for commercial dispute resolution.

CIArb’s Costs of Arbitration survey will play a key role in understanding the present position and, together with the international conference on the Costs of International Arbitration, finding ways of tackling the problem and reducing the costs of arbitration.

Party representatives or arbitral tribunal members may complete the survey here. More information about the conference at which survey results will be presented is available here.

The full article may be read here.

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