Party Autonomy in the Procedure of Appointing Arbitrators

Party autonomy is a recognized concept in commercial arbitration worldwide. The traditional aspect of international arbitration where three arbitrators are appointed has been subject to criticism in the past as well as today. The appointment of a sole arbitrator purportedly allows for shorter arbitration proceedings while appointing three arbitrators tends to prolong international arbitration. The limitations of party autonomy have been moving beyond the old horizons as within current global relations the parties tend to avoid making a decision on the appointment of arbitrators themselves and thus arbitration bodies or tribunals have to act instead of them. The objective of this study is thus to provide an analysis of the issue from a broader viewpoint and to present the differences of opinion together with interesting conclusions across the expert community.