Economic growth in Asia has been accompanied by an increase in sophistication regarding dispute resolution processes. Arbitration continues to flourish, as is evidenced by the growth of arbitral institutions across the region. One challenge arbitration faces is the abuse of the due process protection afforded under the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law. During proceedings, parties may capitalise on arbitrators’ fear of an eventual challenge to seek to admit new evidence or to create more opportunities to present their case – resulting in an inefficient and protracted timeline. Post-award, losing parties may comb through the record in search of “evidence” that the arbitrators did not give them an opportunity to present their case. Despite the recent surge of concern in this area, jurisprudence from two Asian seats, Hong Kong and Singapore, suggests that the bar for such challenges has been set high. There also appears to have emerged from the case law a broad set of criteria which should guide courts when reviewing due process challenges. Interestingly, even though few of the Hong Kong and Singapore cases expressly refer to jurisprudence from other jurisdictions, they appear to be applying identical, universal, standards. This is encouraging for arbitration in Asia and for commercial parties that crave legal certainty and wish for finality in the arbitration process.
Asian International Arbitration Journal