Author: Klaus Peter Berger*
Published: January 1993
| Topics: Arbitrators and Arbitral Tribunals Applicable Law Lex Mercatoria Practice and Procedure Consolidation of Proceedings New York Convention UNCITRAL Model Law |
Description: The primacy of party autonomy is usually regarded as the hallmark of contemporary arbitral legislation. In the past decade, the drive for maximum party autonomy has become the central theme for the ever growing number of legislatures that have discovered international arbitration as a lucrative source of revenues. In devising new arbitration laws to be used as “marketing strategies” in the worldwide competition for dispute resolution through international arbitration, domestic lawmakers seek to implement the concept of the “specificity” (“specificiteit,” “Spezifizität,” “specificità” or “spécificité”) of international economic arbitration. Whether used to build up a country’s image as an arbitral forum or as a means to maintain and improve the good reputation of a country with a long-standing tradition in international economic arbitration, the term is making its way around the world.
*LL.M., University of Virigina; Dr. iur. University of Cologne; Banking Law Institute, Centre for International Trade and Investment Contracts (CITIC), University of Cologne.