220 / 521
the Draft Law, and despite the risk of predominance by other political
agendas, the Istanbul Arbitration Center is expected to be established
in 2015.
In preparing the Draft Law, the working group examined numer-
ous arbitration institutions including the ICC, AAA and LCIA. The
two institutions chosen as models by the working group were the
German Institution of Arbitration, and the Arbitration Court of the
Czech Chamber of Commerce and the Agricultural Chamber of the
Czech Republic. The Draft Law regulates the establishment of the
Istanbul Arbitration Center, defining its duties, bodies, structure and
envisions two separate arbitration courts for national and international
disputes.
Arbitration Rules
The Draft Law does not provide for the arbitration rules, or the res-
olution of disputes referred to the Istanbul Arbitration Center; but
addresses its organization. Pursuant to the Draft Law, the Istanbul
Arbitration Center will have the duty to determine and establish the
rules for, as well as promote arbitration and other alternative dispute
resolution mechanisms.
The arbitration rules to be set by the Istanbul Arbitration Center
will not be the first set of institutional arbitration rules in Turkey. The
Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in Turkey (“TOBB”),
the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (“ITO”) and the Izmir Chamber of
Commerce have institutional arbitration rules. Notwithstanding,
neither institution acts as an international arbitration center. The ITO
rules require that at least one of the parties to a dispute is its member;
rendering their scope mostly local. Moreover, these rules require that
the matter to be resolved through arbitration be a commercial dispute.
The number of arbitrators available in these institutions is very
limited. Therefore the establishment of the Istanbul Arbitration Center
and the preparation of its rules are essential.
Organization
The Draft Law foresees that the İstanbul Arbitration Center is
established as a legal entity subject to civil law provisions. The center
204
NEWSLETTER 2014