2006 Corporate Attitudes and Practices

The 2006 International Arbitration Study was the largest independently conducted empirical survey on international arbitration. The Study targeted corporations as the end users of the arbitration process, and explored their attitudes and perceptions towards arbitration. In particular, the Study involved 143 corporations through their corporate counsels, from various industry sectors, from Europe, Asia, Americas, Africa and Middle East.

• 2006 International Arbitration Study [PDF 962KB]
  2006 International Arbitration Study [PDF 962KB] [PDF 962 KB]
  

Key messages

• A significant majority of corporations prefer international arbitration to resolve their cross border disputes. 73% of the participating corporations prefer to use international arbitration;
• The advantages of international arbitration clearly outweigh the disadvantages. The major advantages of arbitration, as evidenced in the study are procedural flexibility of procedure, enforceability of awards, privacy in the arbitral process and the opportunity accorded to the parties to select their own arbitrators. Although international arbitration can sometimes be at least as expensive as transnational litigation, it represents better value for money;
• Having a clear dispute resolution policy provides corporations with a strategic advantage in the negotiation of dispute resolution clauses for cross border contracts;
• Over three quarters of corporations favour institutional arbitration. There is widespread support for regional arbitration institutions;
• Corporations are looking for arbitrators with an established reputation in the international arbitration community;
• With increasing awareness of international arbitration as a dispute resolution process, there is growing demand from corporations for more education on the tools and tactics of international arbitration;
• The outlook for international arbitration is extremely positive, as 95% of corporations expect to continue using international arbitration.