The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: A Commentary(Oxford Commentaries on International Law)

Reaching past the secrecy so often met in arbitration, the second edition of this commentary explains clearly and fully the workings of the UNCITRAL Rules of Arbitral Procedure recommended for use in 1976 by the United Nations. This new edition fully takes account of the revised Rules adopted in 2010 while maintaining coverage of the original Rules where these remain relevant. The differences between the old and the new Rules are clearly indicated and explained. Pulling together difficult to obtain sources from the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, arbitrations under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, and ad hoc arbitrations, it illuminates the shape the UNCITRAL Rules take in practice. The authors cogently critique that practice in the light of the negotiating history of the rules and solutions adopted by the other major private rules of arbitral procedure. To aid the specialist in the field, the practice of these various tribunals is extensively extracted and reproduced. Rich both in its analysis and sources, this text is indispensable for those working in or studying international arbitration.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction Part I - Fundamental Principles and the Legal Framework within which the Arbitral Tribunal Operates 2: General Provisions and Place of Arbitration 3: Applicable Law Part II - Arbitral Procedures to Control the Selection and Conduct of Arbitrators 4: The Number and Selection of Arbitrators 5: The Challenge of Arbitrators 6: Resignation, Failure to Act, and the Consequences of the Replacement of an Arbitrator 7: The Appointing Authority and Composition under the UNCITRAL Rules Part III - The Initiation of the Arbitration and the Identification and Clarification of the Issues Presented 8: The Notice Initiating Arbitration 9: The Choice of Language 10: Notice and the Calculation of Periods of Time 11: Statements of Claim and Defence 12: Pleas as to the Jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal 13: Amendments to the Claim or Defence 14: Further Written Statements and Time Limits on Submission 15: The Question of Interim Measures Part IV - The Presentation of the Case: Evidence and Hearings 16: Evidence 17: The Hearings 18: Experts Part V - Default and Waiver 19: Default 20: Waiver Part VI - The Award 21: Decisions 22: Form and Effect 23: Settlement and Other Grounds for Termination 24: Post-Award Proceedings 25: The Cost of Arbitration

About the Author :
David Caron is the C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He currently serves as President of the American Society of International Law, Co-Director of the Law of the Sea Institute, and as a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law. He presently serves also as a member of the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on Public International Law and of the Investment Subcommittee of U.S. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy. He is a member of the Bars of the State of California and of England and Wales, and is a Barrister with Chambers at 20 Essex Street. Lee M. Caplan is an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of International Claims and Investment Disputes of the US Department of State.

Review :
`Review from previous edition No one involved in an international arbitration can afford to be without this Commentary. This Commentary, the work of three former legal assistants at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (each since risen to important public duties in the field), exhaustively analyzes each Article of the Rules, providing pertinent negotiating history as well as a synopsis of every known ruling interpreting it, and conveniently includes generous excerpts from those rulings, thus sparing one the need to hunt down the original. Inevitably, this wealth of illuminated precedent has relevance for other arbitration regimes, too. Hence my advice: Don't arbitrate without it!' Judge Charles N. Brower, 20 Essex Street Chambers, Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal `The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules are frequently used as a basis for ad hoc and institutional arbitration, notably by the Iran-US Claims Tribunal and by NAFTA Tribunals. This work is, as it states, a commentary on the Rules and an extremely valuable one. But it is much more that that, because it offers a compendium of practice under the Rules with useful extracts from decisions, reported and unreported, all presented in a systematic and accessible way. It will immediately become the standard work on its subject and an essential part of every arbitration lawyer's library.' James Crawford, Whewell Professor of International Law, University of Cambridge `The UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules: A Commentary by Caron, Pellonpaa and Caplan is already on my keep-to-hand shelf. Their approach is long overdue: on a Rule-by-Rule basis (in pragmatic rather than numerical order) they present commentary based on the drafting history, the pioneering jurisprudence of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and the "blooming practice" of NAFTA Chapter 11 and other tribunals, followed immediately by verbatim excerpts from all significant decisions. This book will save international arbitration practitioners (even those of us who earned our stripes at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal) countless hours of painstaking research and piecing together of UNCITRAL Rule precedents. This books "dual function of analysis and access" undoubtedly will lead to more confident selection of the UNCITRAL Rules.' Lucy Reed, Partner Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (NY), and former US Agent to the Iran-US Claims Tribunal `An authoritative vehicle for considering how well the Rules have worked in practice...The subject is discussed in a very readable system...The book is refreshingly free of padding...This commendable work should be on the bookshelves of all who are involved in international arbitration, commercial and otherwise.' S Robert Morgan, Asian Dispute Review