The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Reports publish occasional papers prepared by ICCA interest groups and project groups, in the hope that they will stimulate discussion and debate in our field.
Dr Leonardo V P de Oliveira wrote one of the essays published in the ‘ICCA Reports No. 10: Does a Right to a Physical Hearing Exist in International Arbitration?’
The report is edited by Giacomo Rojas Elgueta, James Hosking and Yasmine Lahlou, in collaboration with ICCA. It includes an umbrella report summarizing key takeaways from a survey of 78 New York Convention jurisdictions, as well as a series of articles by prominent commentators addressing cutting-edge issues around remote arbitration hearings.
The report arises from the need for reliable, jurisdiction-specific, information on the core legal questions posed by the increased use of remote arbitral hearings due to the COVID pandemic.
Dr Oliveira’s article addresses the function of a hearing in arbitration to assess if a right to a hearing safeguards access to justice in arbitration. The conclusion is that depending on the context of the arbitration, having a physical hearing, a remote hearing or no hearing at all does not necessarily limit the parties’ access to justice.
The report is in open access format and can be found here.