The British publisher Cambridge University Press released in December 2020 “The Cambridge Handbook of Judicial Control of Arbitral Awards “ co-authored also by Professor Bělohlávek. Professor Bělohlávek is author of the chapter “Procedural Irregularities and Arbitrator Misconduct during Proceedings“.
Arbitration is prized as a cost-effective, confidential dispute resolution process, where the parties have considerable autonomy in deciding how the procedure should take place. On the international level, compared to litigation, it has the additional triumph of being easily enforceable in states that are members of the New York Convention.
Perhaps the most significant difference between arbitration and litigation is that arbitration is final, there is no appeal. From this difference, the question arises, how does the arbitration proceedings protect a party from arbitrators who are either obviously biased, do not follow the procedure agreed upon by the parties, or otherwise prevent a party/parties from a fair hearing. The chapter authored by professor Bělohlávek aims to answer this question by looking at a number of issues. First, it examines how the arbitration proceedings should be conducted, namely what arbitrators should avoid doing, and the procedure they must follow. Second it examines the remedies that parties have against procedural irregularities and arbitrator misconduct. The chapter also explores specific examples of procedural irregularities and arbitrator misconduct and how they are treated at each stage of arbitration, with particularly emphasis on the decisions of the ICC and LCIA. Lastly this chapter analyzes whether the current regime addressing procedural irregularity(ies) and arbitrator misconduct(s) could be improved, and how.