The Future of Emergency Arbitration

Abstract This chapter explores the future of emergency arbitration. Emergency arbitration has been a welcome and beneficial addition to international arbitration, and achieved a great deal in a relatively short time. Yet the relative infancy of emergency arbitration is not a justification to delay consideration of needed reforms. The procedure has been tried and tested, and there are some identifiable shortcomings. Amidst the rapid proliferation in Emergency Arbitration Rules, and the striking similarities in the approaches adopted across Emergency Arbitration Rules, there is a risk that certain shortfalls in the procedure have been overlooked. The chapter then considers reforms which may be needed, both to arbitration rules and to arbitration laws, to improve the utility of the procedure. Such reforms have the potential to increase efficiency, reduce the scope for abuse of the procedure, protect and balance parties' due process rights against the demands of urgency, and safeguard the enforceability of emergency arbitrator decisions. Such reforms will also ensure the longevity of emergency arbitration by providing greater certainty and predictability for international arbitration users.