Originally from Emergency Relief in International Arbitration: Concept, Legal Framework, Standards, and Enforcement

PREVIEW

In an emergency, every second counts. This book discusses key aspects of the emergency arbitrator procedure, being the procedure for obtaining interim measures from an emergency arbitrator before the formation of the arbitral tribunal. In particular, this book aims to assist applicants and respondents with the emergency relief application so they may navigate through the emergency arbitrator procedure, which often can be challenging in the urgent circumstances inherent in emergency proceedings. It is hoped that emergency arbitrators, tribunal panels, the judiciary and legislators will find its exposition of the novelty of the concept of the emergency arbitrator helpful. The key elements of the concept have been analysed and the issues with which these stakeholders may need to deal during the process, have been taken into account. Before launching into the substantive discussion on all the important aspects of the emergency arbitrator concept, it is best to first provide a brief overview on the concept and its origins.  

The concept of the emergency arbitrator was formally introduced on 1 May 2006 by the ICDR Rules, but its origins trace to the Pre-Arbitral Referee Rules adopted by the ICC in 1990. The Pre-Arbitral Referee Rules introduced a procedure called “Pre-Arbitral Referee Procedure” and provided that upon a request for certain measures a referee would be appointed to deal with such requests before the arbitral tribunal or the court were seized with the matter. The parties wishing to use the Pre-Arbitral Referee Procedure could do so by an agreement in writing.