• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.271-321
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• 2002

Every year, many million of business transactions take place. Ocassionally, disagreements develop over these business transactions. Many of these disputes are resolved by mediation, arbitration and out-of-court settlement options. The American Arbitration Association(AAA) helps resolve a wide range of disputes through mediation, arbitration, elections and other out-of-court settlement procedures. The AAA offers a broad range of dispute resolution services to business executives, attorneys, individuals, trade associations, unions, management, consumers, families, communities, and all level of governments. The 198,491 cases composed of the 194,303 arbitration cases and the 4,188 mediation cases, were filed with the AAA in 2000. These case filings represent a full range of matters, including commercial finance, construction, labor and employment, environmental, health care, insurance, real state, securities, and technology disputes. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) does more than render arbitration services. It helps facilitate settlements and guarantee implementation thereof between trading partners at home and abroad involving disputes related to such areas as the sale of commodities, construction, joint venture agreements, technical assistance, agency agreements, and maritime transport. The 643 cases composed of the the 197 arbitration cases and the 446 mediation cases, were filed with the KCAB in 2001. There are some differences between the AAA and the KCAB regarding the number and the area of mediation and arbitration case filings, the breath of service offerings, the scope of alternative dispute resolution, and the education and training. In order to apply to the proceedings of the commercial mediation and arbitration, the AAA has the Commercial Mediation Rules, the Commercial Arbitration Rules, the Expedited Procedures, the Optional Procedures for Large, Complex Commerical Dispute, and the Optional Rules for Emergency Measures of Protection as amended and effective on September 1, 2000. In order to apply to the proceedings of commercial arbitration, the KCAB has the Arbitration Rules as amended by the Supreme Court on April 27, 2000, which have been changed to incorporate the revisions of the Arbitration Act that went into effect on December 31, 1999. There are some differences between the AAA's commercial Arbitration Rules and the KCAB's Arbitration Rules regarding the clauses of jurisdiction and administrative conference, number of arbitrators, communication with arbitrator, vacancies, preliminary hearing, exchange of information, oaths, evidence by affidavit and posthearing filing of documents or others, interim measures, serving of notice, form of award, scope of award, delivery of award to parties, modification of award, release of liability, administrative fees, neutral arbitrator's compensation, and expedited procedures. In conclusion, for the vitalization of KCAB and its ADR system, the following measures should be taken : the effective case management, the development of on0-line ADR, the establishment of ADR system of electronic commerce disputes, and the variety of dispute resolution rules in each expert field.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.32
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• pp.59-91
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• 2006

The Arbitration Act of Korea was promulgated in 1966. Since the promulgation of Arbitration Act of Korea, consecutive amendments took place in 1973, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002. Among the various set of amendments, those of 1999 were designed to accommodate the UNCITRAL Model Law on international Commercial Arbitration of 1985. Korea has acceded to special international conventions on dispute settlement such as the New York Convention of 1958 and the Washington Convention of 1965. The Korean Commercial Arbitration Board(KCAB) administers the arbitration proceedings in accordance with its Arbitration Rules approved by the Korean Supreme Court. Since the establishment of the first Arbitration Rules in 1966. consecutive amendments took place in 1973, 1981, 1989, 1993, 1996, 2000 and 2004. The KCAB plans to enact the International Arbitration Rules, which will be available to disputing parties in addition to the KCAB Arbitration Rules. In 2005, arbitration applications received at KCAB recorded a historic high at 213 cases, an increase of 22% from 175 cases in 2000. But in 2005, the total amount involved in the arbitration cases decreases to US$ 129 million, a decline of 63% from US$ 346 million in 2000. The KCAB should take the following measures for activating the commercial arbitration system: the globalization of KCAB, the advertisement of arbitration system, the security of qualified arbitrators, and the enhancement of the secretariat service. In conclusion, the KCAB should make efforts for the development of the arbitration system and for the upgrade of customer satisfaction. Moreover the KCAB should make further efforts to grow into a global arbitration institution as well as strengthening relations with international arbitration institutions.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.215-237
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• 2011

There are more than two hundred arbitral institutions in China. Some of them are active in the development of online arbitration system, such as CIETAC and Guangzhou Arbitration Commission(GAC). GAC, founded in 1995, is the second largest arbitral institution in China which accepts more than 4,000 cases a year. With extensive experiences in arbitration, GAC has conducted online arbitration procedures since 2007. Moreover it opened the whole process of online hearing to the public through the Internet. With this background, this article aims to support the development of online arbitration through the analysis of GAC practices. To meet the purpose, status quo, rules and procedure of online arbitration of GAC are outlined, followed by introducing nine cases conducted by GAC. The scope of GAC online arbitration is comparatively narrow and the institution is still under the government supervision. But the practices of GAC proved that online arbitration is fully admissible and effective under the current legal framework.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-23
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• 2012

Defamation on the Internet is a criminal offense. Of late, the damage it has been causing has grown exponentially. Here, we suggest some ideas to expand the use of arbitration in Korea. We suggest that all disputes arising in connection with current contracts be settled under the rules of conciliation and arbitration. As a countermeasure to the requirements for defamation or damages, the field of criminal arbitration regulations needs to be defined strictly. In conclusion, the UK does not make provisions for arbitration as a specific subject. With respect to foreign legislation, it is necessary to take a look at ways to expand arbitration in our country. The scale of arbitration must be expanded to allow for greater protection of criminals in exchange for their cooperation in arbitration cases and relative to the amount of the damages in dollars. There must also be detailed instructions regarding the eligibility criteria for and proper handling of these arbitration cases.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.199-225
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• 2010

This study investigates the characteristics of local arbitration committees in China based on arbitration institution evaluation model. Most of the literature on Chinese arbitration committees only focuses on CIETAC. However, the promulgation of 1994 Chinese arbitration act allows local arbitration committees to deal the arbitration cases related with foreign element. Before 1994, only CIETAC and CMAC handle the arbitration cases related with foreign element. For the evaluation of the local arbitration committees, this study establishes the arbitration institution evaluation model. This model has seven evaluation criteria: accessability, independence, neutrality, rapidity, economy, professionality, and extent of enforcement. Our findings are as follows. First, Chinese local arbitration committees have the strengths in the fields of accessability, economy and rapidity. However, they are deficient in the area of neutrality, professionality, and independence. Second, the spatial distribution of Chinese local arbitration committees is not equal in China. The number of local arbitration committees is big in the high growth region such as Shandong province. On the other hand, the number of local arbitration committees is small in the economically stagnant area. Third, the size and activity of local arbitration committees are various. Some of them are very active in dispute resolution through arbitration in China. For example, Beijing Arbitration Committee(BAC), Wuhan, Quangzou Arbitration Committee play the important role in dispute resolution through arbitration. However, the large part of local arbitration committees is financially weak and depend on the local government's financial support.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.93-114
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• 2003

The Federal Arbitration Act and the States Arbitration acts of the United States approve that the an arbitration clause should be construed broadly and the Courts interpreted it broadly without being curbed by the written meaning of clause itself. The Courts also divided the interpretation of arbitration clause from the interpretation of other clauses of contract to approve the validity of arbitration clause and further expanded the scope of arbitration. However, the Arbitration Act of Korea does not specify a general principle about how an arbitration clause should be interpreted. The Supreme Court did not have a case yet but the lower courts kept their posture that an arbitration clause should be clear by resulting narrow interpretation and should be written to the extent that it excludes the power of courts from jurisdiction. As a result, there would be cases that arbitration is not permitted although an arbitration clause exists. The parties intending arbitration are frustrated about how to draft an arbitration clause into their agreement. There were the cases that the parties which took the prevailing position attempted to delay dispute resolutions by dragging disputes into litigation even if they agreed to resolve through arbitration, on the basis that an arbitration clause was incomplete. Although the arbitration statutes of the United States cannot apply in Korea, the way of their approaches to the interpretation of arbitration clause can be taken into consideration in view of the globalization of arbitration.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.64
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• pp.65-97
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• 2014

Arbitration is the dispute methods for speedy and economic resolutions in international commercial areas. In maritime disputes cases in East Asia, Korea and Japan are the regional benefits to cover and deal with the maritime cases on arbitration. And Korea and Japan are the competitive maritime industry for heavy shipbuilding industry, cargo carrier, processing and transhipment service on ports, and ship financial services in national competitive areas. Japan is the Tokyo maritime arbitration commission(TOMAC) as an uniquely capable of dealing with arbitrations involving problems arising in the sea field. TOMAC provides amended its arbitration rules 2014 aiming at matching with the maritime disputes circumstances with three maritime arbitration rules as ordinary rules, simplified rules and the rules of small claims arbitration procedure. KCAB however, as the unique commercial arbitration board in Korea is dealing on all of the commercial disputes on only the international commercial arbitration rules in 2011. Though KCAB is dealt with maritime dispute cases on international arbitration rules in Korea, it is small and simple compared with TOMAC in Japan. Maritime disputes are highly complicated and embroiled with multi-parties contract and subcontracts arising under contracts relating to bills of lading, charter parties, sale and purchase of ships, shipbuilding, ship financing and so forth. This paper is to provides a discussion and comparison on recently arbitration rules focus on the maritime aspects on Korea and Japan. We need to consider to make an independent and special institute and maritime arbitration rules including the multiparty consolidation and med-arb provisions for handling the disputes and resolution of maritime conflict cases in Korea.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.53-70
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• 2019

This study analyzed some cases of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commision (CIETAC) related to the application of the Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). As a contracting party of the CISG, China has accumulated a considerable amount of experience in applying CISG through commercial arbitrations. This study sought to understand how CISG is operated in commercial arbitration in China. By analyzing actual cases in China, Korean commercial arbitration can avoid mistakes and further improve. This study of Chinese cases will give some useful information for Korean companies. As defined by the CISG, the applicability can be divided into direct application and indirect application. When China joined the CISG, it made a reservation out of Article 1(1)(b). Korea and China are contracting parties to CISG and CISG is, therefore, directly applied. It is beneficial for Korea to understand how CIETAC is indirectly applied in China then. Some of the results of this study are as follows: First, CIETAC made a correct judgment most of the time on the direct application of CISG. However, there were mistakes in the judgment of the nationality of the parties in a few cases. The parties must clearly define applicable laws when entering into a contract. Secondly, the 2012 "CIETAC Arbitration Rules" was revised so that the "party autonomy" was introduced into Chinese commercial arbitration concerning indirect application. Therefore, the principle of autonomy of the parties was not fully recognized in the past judgments. Instead, the domestic law of China was applied in accordance with the reservation of Article 1(1)(b). Thirdly, China did not explain the application of CISG in Hong Kong, which led to ambiguity in concerned countries. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the status of CISG in Hong Kong. In addition, Korean companies should clearly define the applicable laws when dealing with Hong Kong companies.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.108-121
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• 2021

Purpose - This paper studies whether the CISG is applicable to the arbitration agreement when the validity of the arbitration agreement becomes an issue. To make the study clear, it limits the cases assuming that the governing law of the main contract is the CISG and the arbitration agreement is inserted in the main contract as a clause. Also, this paper discusses only substantive and formal validity of the arbitration agreement because the CISG does not cover the questions of the parties' capacity and arbitrability of the dispute. Design/methodology - This paper is based on scholarly writings and cases focusing on the principle of party autonomy, formation of contract and the doctrine of separability to discuss characteristic of arbitration agreement. In analyzing the cases, it concentrates on the facts and reasonings that show how the relative regulations and rules are interpreted and applied. Findings - The findings of this paper are; regarding substantive validity of arbitration agreement, the courts and arbitral tribunals consider general principles of law for the contract and the governing law for the main contract. In relation to formal validity of arbitration agreement, the law at the seat of arbitration or the law of the enforcing country are considered as the governing law in preference to the CISG because of the recognition and enforcement issues. Originality/value - This paper attempts to find the correlation between the CISG and the arbitration agreement. It studies scholars' writing and cases which have meaningful implication on this issue. By doing so, it can provide contracting parties and practitioners with some practical guidelines about the governing law for the arbitration agreement. Furthermore, it can help them to reduce unpredictability that they may confront regarding this issue in the future.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.63
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• pp.133-156
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• 2014

With the development of Chinese commercial arbitration, there have been a large number of cases regarding the parties raised objection to the jurisdiction in arbitration and judicial practice. The argument relating to dealing with the subject matter, time limitation, identified subject of arbitration objection to the jurisdiction as well as the inadequate of Chinese Arbitration Law and relevant judicial interpretations has caused adverse impact on the conduct of the arbitration proceedings. This paper firstly look ar the overview of the arbitration jurisdiction objection, mainly on the arbitration jurisdiction objection determination and what is arbitration jurisdiction objection. The raise and abandonment of the arbitration objection to jurisdiction then will be analyzed in terms of subject, form, time and the legal consequences of giving up. The third part illustrates the handling of arbitration jurisdiction objection, main body, practices, procedures and whether the arbitration objection to jurisdiction is established. And the last part discuss how the condition of effectiveness on the arbitral agreement applies to through Chinese cases. Finally, the author suggests some cautions and countermeasures relates to arbitration agreement for domestic investors and traders dealing with the Chinese partner.