Double Requirement or Double Standard? A Comparison of Arbitrators’ Independence and Impartiality with That of State Court Judges in Austria and Germany - Czech and Central European Yearbook of Arbitration - Independence and Impartiality of Arbitrators - 2014

Author(s): 

Harald Sippel

Page Count: 

22 pages

Media Description: 

1 PDF Download

Published: 

February, 2014

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Description: 

Originally from Czech and Central European Yearbook of Arbitration - 2014: Independence and Impartiality of Arbitrators

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Abstract | The double requirement of “independence
and impartiality”, which arbitrators have to deal with

can now be found in virtually any institutional rules of

procedure, applicable to arbitral proceedings, as well

as in national laws governing arbitration. While it is

true that the same rules do not apply around the

world, the emergence of the International Bar

Association Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in

International Arbitration has helped to create more

unified general principles, which have in the past been

applied or referred to by state courts even when not

explicitly agreed upon by the parties. The two

fundamental principles guiding the IBA Guidelines on

Conflicts of Interest in Arbitration are, unsurprisingly,

independence and impartiality.

State court judges are also bound by principles of

independence of impartiality, but not in the same way

as arbitrators. As such, no state court judge is required

to investigate a potential conflict of interest when

“accepting/receiving” a case. On the other hand, special

circumstances that might give rise to a potential

conflict of interest can be waived by the parties to an