Although by agreeing to arbitration the parties involved are free to determine the procedure applicable to their arbitration, national laws will nonetheless have a significant impact on arbitral proceedings. In fact, all arbitral proceedings are governed by a codified procedural law (lex arbitri), which is often not the same as the law governing the parties’ contract. Usually the parties do not choose lex arbitri and instead select only the law governing their contract. When this occurs, the lex arbitri will be the law of the country in which the arbitration occurs.
To understand the specifics of the local arbitration law, one will require a foreign language translation. However, most local laws determine the scope of judicial intervention in the arbitration proceedings, along with the appointment of arbitrators, party autonomy and the ability of arbitrators to grant provisional measures. More so, most countries have enacted laws favoring international arbitration by limiting legal procedural requirements and allowing for court intervention where it is helpful rather than disruptive of an effective arbitration process.
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