A comparative study of arbitration from an expert

In this latest of his many contributions to the advancement and appreciation of international arbitration, Professor Sanders draws on his vast experience to provide a unique study of recent arbitration developments and trends, which also includes a look into the future and assessment of desirable

Quo Vadis is a highly readable comparative study on many levels, one which highlights regional dif ferences and incorporates the latest arbitration texts, conventions, treaties, national laws, arbitration court decisions and institutional rules. Consequently, it contains a great deal of valuable information for anyone who needs to track these developments worldwide.

A special pleasure of the work is that, while documenting the strong trend toward the harmonization of arbitration law and practice, and blending of differences between common and civil law approaches, it also highlights and features the author's assessment of important practice issues on which different approaches can be noted, or questions tend to arise. Singled out for further attention are issues such as the enforcement of awards set aside in the country of origin, the New York Convention's requirement of a written form of arbitration agreement, authority to deal with issues of multiparty arbitration and consolidation, and the enforcement of interim measures of protection. A number of these issues will be considered, with a view towards further harmonization, at the 32nd session of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.

Of special interest with respect to dealing with awards set aside in the country of origin, will be the author's own perspective, as one of the original drafters of the 1958 New York Convention, on the meaning and operative effect of Articles VI and VII of the Convention.

Also documented in Quo Vadis is the trend towards the increased use of conciliation (mediation), extent of confidentiality accorded to the process, the proper role of a conciliator, and possible content of a Model Law on Conciliation, also on UNCITRAL's current agenda.

As Professor Sanders indicates, conciliation of private disputes was practiced in the Far East since ancient times. In the international commercial context, it predates the use of arbitration as an available setdement technique before a reasonably predictable international arbitration system came into being. The author's study confirms the renewed interest and trend towards a greater use, in combination with arbitration, of this time-tested dispute resolution technique. Inevitably, a question tends to arise about combining, in a given controversy, the functions of conciliator and arbitrator. While conciliation clearly can take a variety of forms, based upon the wishes of the parties and predilection of the conciliator, the author tends to share the view that arbitration and mediation operate best when employed as separate processes, since each has its own purpose and ultimate morality.