Neodvisnost in nepristranskost arbitrov v mednarodni investicijski arbitraži

Omladič, Žiga (author), Sancin, Vasilka (mentor)

V mednarodni investicijski arbitraži je uveljavljen sistem imenovanja arbitrov s strani strank. S tem je poudarjeno načelo avtonomije strank, ki je ena izmed značilnosti in hkrati prednosti arbitražnih postopkov. Pri tem se postavljajo vprašanja glede kompetenc, moralnega značaja ter neodvisnosti in nepristranskosti imenovanih arbitrov. Pojma neodvisnosti in nepristranskosti predstavljata skupek objektivnih in subjektivnih meril, ki določajo, kateri odnosi med arbitrom in stranko ali njenim zagovornikom se lahko štejejo za sporne v luči pravičnosti postopka. Neodvisnost predstavlja objektivni koncept, kjer se ugotavlja morebiten obstoj osebnih, socialnih ali finančnih razmerij med arbitrom in stranko ali njenim zagovornikom. Nepristranskost je za razliko od neodvisnosti subjektivna in abstraktna. Presoja se stanje arbitrovega duha in zadeva ugotavljanje težnje arbitra k večji naklonjenosti do ene izmed strank. Stranke arbitražnega postopka lahko v primeru konflikta interesov zahtevajo izločitev spornega arbitra. Pravni standard dokazovanja odvisnosti ali pristranskosti je predmet mnogih znanstvenih razprav. V magistrskem diplomskem delu bom razpravljal o hipotezi, da sta odvisnost in pristranskost arbitrov težko dokazljivi in da sta v praksi le redko vzrok izločitve arbitra. Doktrine so si neenotne glede vprašanja, ali naj se za arbitre v mednarodni investicijski arbitraži uporablja in zahteva enak standard kot pri sodnikih mednarodnih ali nacionalnih sodišč. Neenotnost se kaže tudi v določbah različnih arbitražnih pravil. Pri tem izstopajo določbe konvencije ICSID. Večina tribunalov je priznala razliko med dokaznimi standardi pri zatrjevanju pristranskosti in odvisnosti ICSID postopkov ter postopkov ostalih arbitražnih institucij. Tribunali so si pri tem enotni, da je dokazni standard za izločitev v postopkih ICSID višji v primerjavi z ostalimi in predstavlja za stranko težko dokazno breme. Tematika je predmet kritike širše strokovne javnosti. Posledično se v ICSID arbitražni praksi kažejo tendence k poenotenju dokaznega standarda. V magistrskem delu so predstavljene nekatere odmevnejše odločbe tribunalov z analizo razlogov, na podlagi katerih so stranke zahtevale izločitev arbitrov.

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: mednarodno investicijsko pravo, mednarodna investicijska arbitraža, neodvisnost arbitrov, nepristranskost arbitrov, izločitev arbitra
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: PF - Faculty of Law
• Year: 2019
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-113047
• COBISS.SI-ID: 17107793
• Publication date in RUL: 30.11.2019

Secondary language

• Language: English
• Title: The independence and impartiality of arbitrators in international investment arbitration

Abstract

In the field of international investment arbitration, the common practice is for clients to name the arbitrators. This procedure enhances the party autonomy, which is considered as one of the advantages of arbitration. This possibility does, however, rise specific questions regarding the necessary competence, moral character, independence, and impartiality of the arbitrators. In the light of ensuring fair procedure, independence and impartiality of arbitrators are regarded as objective and subjective sets of criteria, which help determine, whether a relationship between clients and arbitrators is disputable. The term independence represents an objective concept of the existence of a personal, financial, or social relationship between arbitrators and parties or their counsels. In contrast, impartiality is considered as a subjective and abstract set of criteria. Impartiality represents the arbitrator's state of mind and their tendency to favor one of the clients. In the event of a conflict of interest, parties can propose to disqualify the respective arbitrator. Standard to the evaluation of arbitral independence has been thoroughly discussed throughout the years. In this work I hypothesize that dependency and partiality of arbitrators are difficult to prove and are rarely the reason of arbitrator’s disqualification. The opinion, whether the independence standard should be the same for arbitrators and international adjudicators, differs among experts. Furthermore, discord can be found in various provisions of different international arbitration rules. The most significant decline can be found in the ICSID Convention, which has also been recognized by several tribunals. In their judgements, they have stated, that ICSID Convention imposes a heavy burden of proof on the challenger to prove the manifest lack of capacity for independent judgement. This issue has been criticized heavily by the international professional community. Consequently, the tendency for changes to harmonize the standards set in the ICSID Convention has been noted. This master thesis also analyses some of the cases of parties’ requests for disqualification in order to represent the different practice in international investment arbitration.

• Keywords: international investment law, investor-State arbitration, independence, impartiality, challenge