In 2012, the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration launched its i-Arbitration Rules in an attempt to attract more disputes from the multitrillion-dollar Islamic finance industry. The i-Arbitration Rules attempt to provide a Shari’a-compliant protocol for international commercial arbitration of those disputes. This article analyses whether they meet that objective by first exploring why there is a need for an alternative method of dispute resolution in Asia for Islamic finance disputes, then looking at the issues that arise when Shari’a matters are subject to international commercial arbitration, and finally considering whether the i-Arbitration Rules resolve those issues.
Journal of International Arbitration