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Parties should select the Place of Arbitration
In making such determination, the parties should consider strate-
gic, practical, and legal criteria. The strategic criteria cover neutrality
and effectiveness. In practice, neutrality is guaranteed by selecting the
seat of the arbitration to be in a country that is not connected to any of
the parties. Effectiveness is related to the enforcement of the award.
Practical criteria highlights comfort, security, practical conditions
to carry out arbitration activities, costs, hearing facilities, closeness to
the parties, witnesses and evidence, etc.
In general terms, the place of arbitration determines intervention of
the courts and applicable procedural law. There is a natural relationship
between the “place of arbitration” and the “applicable procedural law.”
The applicable procedural law is the law of the place of arbitration
unless the parties agree to another procedural law. The parties should
be careful when selecting a place of arbitration to consider the proce-
dural law and courts’ position towards arbitration. The place of arbi-
tration, or the seat, is significant in terms of the award. It provides
“nationality” to the award. The nationality of the award may be signif-
icant for the enforcement of the award, since the NewYork Convention
enables the signatories to make a reciprocity reservation.
The institutional rules generally provide that the award is deemed
to be made at the place of arbitration. An award is described as “for-
eign” when it is rendered in a country different than the country in
which it is to be enforced.
In the absence of an agreement between the parties, the place of
arbitration is either fixed by the relevant institution or the arbitrators
2
.
The place of arbitration, which is a legal concept, does not provide that
all procedural acts that include hearings be held in the determined city
or country (the seat). The location of hearings may be different. The
arbitral tribunal may, after consultation with the parties, conduct hear-
ings and meetings at any location it considers appropriate, unless oth-
erwise agreed by the parties. In ad hoc arbitrations, Article 18 of the
UNCITRAL Rules provide a similar approach.
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2
See Article 18 of the ICC Rules.