The proceedings of ICCA's 1998 Paris Congress, hosted by the Comite francais de l'Arbitrage. This Congress marked the 40th anniversary of the 1958 New York Convention. Three working groups, made up of international experts, professionals and practitioners in the field of arbitration, examined the following topics: arbitration clauses - achieving effectiveness; arbitration procedure - achieving efficiency without sacrificing due process; and arbitration awards - solving problems of enforcement.

In ICCA's eighth Congress Series, international experts, professionals and practitioners in the field of arbitration examine the topic of the culture of international arbitration. ICCA's 1996 Seoul Conference, hosted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, addressed four questions: is there a growing international arbitration culture? is there an expanding culture that favours combining arbitration, conciliation or other dispute resolution procedures? to what extent do arbitrators in international cases disregard the bag and baggage of national systems? and when and where do national courts reflect an international culture when deciding issues relating to international arbitration?.

This volume of the Yearbook reproduces in Part III A, which is devoted to arbitration rules of international and national institutions, new or amended international arbitration and conciliation rules from the American Arbitration Association, the Commercial Arbitration and Mediation Center for the Americas (CAMCA), the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The trend of offering expedited arbitration services is represented in the rules for expedited arbitration of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the Japan Shipping Exchange. UNCITRAL's latest contribution, "Notes on Organizing Arbitral Proceedings", is also reproduced. Part IV on recent developments in arbitration law and practice focuses on the new arbitration acts in Brazil, Guatemala, Malta, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, all of which have been inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Law. A selection of Arbitral Awards from a variety of arbitral institutions has been compiled for this volume. Awards emanating from arbitral institutions located in Paris, Hamburg, Milan, Rome, Stockholm and Zurich, as well as awards made under the auspices of the ICC and ICSID, are included. For the first time, the Yearbook also includes two challenge decisions made under the UNCITRAL Rules by Appointing Authorities. The collection of Arbitral Awards is completed by the survey of awards made by the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, along with a selection from these awards. Various categories of Court Decisions are reported in the Yearbook. Part II - B reports on leading cases which have a major impact on both national and international practice. Part II - C focuses on Court Decisions applying the UNCITRAL Model Law as reported in Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT). In addition, a cumulative Index of Articles of CLOUT decisions reported in Yearbook Volumes XIX through XXII is provided. Part V contains Court Decisions applying the major multilateral arbitration conventions. In this volume, more decisions applying and interpreting the 1958 New York Convention than ever before: 69 decisions from 19 countries are reported. A "first" for the Yearbook is the new Part IV - D reporting two decisions on the 1975 Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration. The Yearbook concludes with a Bibliography containing announcements of recent publications and current periodicals in the field of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. The "Yearbook Commercial Arbitration" is an ICCA (International Council for Commercial Arbitration) publication with the assistance of the International Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague.

International commercial arbitration raises issues other than the choice of the law applicable to the principal contract. Autonomy may have a wider meaning, extending beyond the choice of applicable law to the choice of arbitration itself, and of the place or places where it is to be conducted. Nor is it altogether clear what the forum is, if any. This paper raises the fundamental question of what gives the arbitrator his or her competence; the will of the parties or the law of the seat of arbitration which the parties may, or may not, have chosen. An answer has also been suggested to the questions of which choice of law rules, if any, should be applied by the arbitrators, to what extent arbitrators will apply mandatory rules (regles d'application immediate), as well as which law governs the procedural aspects and whether it has to be the procedural law of a national system. The new English Arbitration Act 1996 has also been taken into account.

This annual reference encompasses significant developments in the field of international commercial arbitration. It contains arbitral awards from various ad hoc and institutional tribunals which address issues such as the applicable law, assignment, bribery, copyright infringement and breach of contract. There are separate sections devoted to new arbitral rules and laws, court decisions relevant to arbitral practice, decisions applying the UNCITRAL model law and those applying two of the major multilateral arbitration conventions - the New York Convention 1958 and the European Convention 1961. The text concludes with an annotated bibliography of recent publications and current periodicals in the fields of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

In ICCA's latest Congress Series, international experts, professionals and practitioners in the field of arbitration put forward answers to the challenge facing international arbitrators to improve the efficiency and predictability of arbitration proceedings. In order to present these topics coherently, the organizers of ICCA's 12th International Arbitration Congress, held in Vienna in November 1994, divided the forum into two working groups: "Planning Efficient Arbitration Proceedings" and "The Law Applicable in International Arbitration". Working Group I focused on the arbitrator's ability to plan proceedings, using various formal and informal methods and techniques. In particular, attention was drawn to the UNCITRAL Draft Guidelines which provides arbitrators with a written reminder of items to be covered while planning proceedings. During debate, proponents emphasized the "optional" character of the guidelines, to allay fears that more efficiency would reduce the ability to solve disputes flexibly. Working Group I also discussed means of improving the presentation of evidence during proceedings. Working Group II faced the complications arbitral tribunals may encounter when the law applicable to the substance of a dispute and the law governing the procedure are different. Attention was also directed toward three other systems of law which may be relevant during the proceedings: the law governing the capacity of the parties, the law applicable to the arbitration agreement and the appropriate conflicts-of-law rules to determine the substantive law. In general the reports of both Working Groups expressed a desire for a more standardized and international approach to arbitration proceedings and emphasized the need to prevent parochial national preference from creating unnecessary obstructions.

This volume continues to report on current developments in the field of international commercial arbitration. The yearbook has maintained its original format and continues to publish arbitral awards, both constitutional and ad hoc, new and amended rules of arbitral institutions, and accounts of current developments in the law and practice of commercial arbitration worldwide. The Yearbook also includes broad coverage of court decisions applying the UNCITRAL Model Law in International Commercial Arbitration, as well as the major multilateral arbitration conventions: the 1958 New York Convention, the 1961 European Convention, and the 1965 Washington Convention. Part II - A: Arbitral Awards, which is supplemented by a subject index, contains ICSID, ICC and maritime awards that range from topical issues such as the effects of the 1993 boycott of Kuwaiti and Iraqi oil products to classical questions arising in arbitration, such as the application by arbitrators of Conventions and mandatory law regarding issues of public policy. Also included are awards of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal dealing with issues of general interest, such as expropriation, valuation, and standard of compensation, breach of contract and force majeure as well as procedural questions arising form the UNCITRAL rules as applied by the Tribunal. The 47 court decisions contained in Part V - A on the 1958 New York Convention reflect the increasing reliance on this tool for the enforcement of arbitration agreements and awards. The "Commentary on the European Convention on International Commercial Arbitration of 1961" by Dominique T. Hascher contained in Part V - C, along with five court decisions applying this convention, document the growing importance of this international document. Also included are court decisions of general interest to arbitration practice from England, France and the Court of Justice of the EC; court decisions on the UNCITRAL Model Law as reported in "Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT)"; new arbitration rules of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc., and the World Intellectual Property Organization; updates on new arbitration legislation in Bahrain, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Ivory Coast, Romania, Singapore and Ukraine; up-to-date lists of Contracting States to the New York, European and Washington Conventions; and a bibliography of recent publications and current periodicals in the field of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

As in previous years the "Yearbook Commercial Arbitration 1994" treats current developments in international commercial arbitration - recent changes in arbitration legislation - newly enacted arbitration rules - applications of the UNCITRAL Model Law - arbitral awards (ensured confidentiality) - relevant court decisions of a general nature and - the New York Arbitration Convention of 1958 in addition to the Washington and European Conventions The Yearbook, which is compiled with the assistance of a worldwide network of correspondents, contains in its 19th volume a broad selection of arbitral awards, including awards issued under the auspices of ICSID, ICC, and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. A topic which has received special attention in this year's Yearbook is the issue of corruption or "facilitating payments". This volume of the Yearbook also features a Consolidated Commentary on the 1958 New York Convention by Prof. Albert Jan van den Berg, reviewing the court decisions published in the Yearbook in the period 1992-1994. Subscribers to the Yearbook receive this yearly up-date on developments and decisions in the sphere of commercial arbitration automatically.

The reports and commentaries in this volume, covering the entire process of arbitration from pre-arbitral stage to the post-arbitral stage, reflect changes in the economic and ppolitical structure. They contain both general overviews of the current situation, as well as detailed observations. The commentators were selected from legal systems and institutions where international commercial arbitration is firmly established, as well as from legal systems where the former tentative position of international commercial arbitration is only now being strengthened by means of acceptance by governments, ratification of multilateral arbitration conventions, enacting of new legislation and the establishment of new arbitral institutions.

Discussing the main issues in Dutch arbitration law, its history and its procedures, this text includes coverage of current developments, such as the privatization of the administration of justice, recent legal decisions and publications. This edition also contains chapters on international arbitration and arbitration outside the Netherlands. The book should be of value to non-jurists studying law and beginning law students, as well as to arbitrators and practising lawyers.