within what deadlines. It should also identify the place or “seat” of the arbitration an ideally the procedural rules to be applied (e.g. LMAA Terms, Intermediate Claims Procedure or Small Claims Procedure).


Is arbitration costly?


This depends very much on the procedure used and the way the case is conducted by the parties and their legal advisers. In the case of the Small Claims Procedure and the Intermediate Claims Procedures there are fixed caps on the fees which can be recovered by the successful party and the arbitrators’ fees. Hearings tend to add significantly to the cost of the 20 percent of cases which involve an oral hearing. All the indications are that London is competitive with or cheaper than many other jurisdictions.


Are there any cases where arbitration is not recommended?


There are some types of cases which are not regarded as arbitrable, such as family cases but otherwise disputes under virtually


all commercial contracts are regarded as suitable to be decided by arbitration. There are sometimes issues about consolidation of arbitration or the binding effect of arbitration on third parties who are not directly parties to the arbitration agreement but in most maritime cases these can be handled by orders for concurrent conduct, as for example in cases involving chains of charterparties of the same ship.


Please talk to us about the importance of the New York Convention:


The success of the New York Convention of 1958, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in June, is one of the principal reasons why international businesses choose arbitration rather than court proceedings for dispute resolution (another being confidentiality of arbitration). The Convention has over 150 signatories (including China, Russia, Turkey, Greece and Ukraine, among other important players in the maritime world). This means that an award obtained in an arbitration with a seat in one signatory country can be enforced effectively as a court judgment


in any other signatory country (subject to some rather narrowly defined exceptions).


This is not the case with court judgments which can only be enforced in another country on the basis of a bilateral or multilateral treaty, such as exists between members of the European Union, or on the basis of reciprocity which may not be easy to establish.


What impact might Brexit have on London arbitration?


Brexit, whatever form it eventually takes, will have no impact on the way London arbitration is conducted nor on the international enforceability of London arbitration awards. International enforcement depends on the New York Convention, not on any E.U. legislation or Conventions.


The Report • September 2018 • Issue 85 | 51


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