In the past three decades,with the growing acceptance of arbitration,the global legislation of arbitration law has experienced profound changes:more than 100 countries(autonomous)reformed their arbitration laws.These legislative reforms exhibit tendencies of liberalization,internationalization and nationalization.In the first part of the book,these“tendencies”of the arbitration legislation are discussed.An essential engine for the legislative modernization is the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration,which has been implemented in 70 countries(autonomous)worldwide.The first part of the book is finished with an examination of“tendencies”in the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law by the German Arbitration Law 1998.
China passed the first Arbitration Act in 1994.The new law reformed the previous“administrative arbitration system”.Thereafter,Chinese domestic and foreign arbitration have evolved rapidly in cases and arbitration institutions in concert with the high speed economic growth.However,the existing Arbitration Act remains problematic due to strict qualification for arbitration agreement,forbidding of ad-hoc arbitration,lack of competence of tribunal,substantive examination of court,etc.Further reforms are necessary and the future reform of Arbitration Act should conform to global legislative trend in arbitration.Therefore,in the second part of the report,the possibility of adoption and supplement of the Model Law is discussed.Based on the liberal Model Law and in the spirit of true private autonomy,legal defects in the existing of Arbitration Act will be thereby overcome.
The comparative study in the report will be understood as a contribution to modernization of Chinese legislation of arbitration law.With the introduction of global arbitration legislations,the research is also helpful in bridging cultural differences in international dispute resolution and the harmonization of international arbitration legal system.
Keywords: Arbitration,liberalization,internationalization,nationalization,law reform,UNCITRAL,Model Law