Newsletter-21

175 ARBITRATION LAW 30-day period, or, if an additional time is granted by the Secretariat upon request, within the specified time limit. Arbitration Agreement and Competence-Competence Any objection governing the existence, validity, content, scope and application of the arbitration agreement shall be raised, together with the answer to the request for arbitration. In the event such an objection is raised, or, in the absence of an answer to the request for arbitration, the matter shall be resolved by the unique arbitrator, or the arbitral tribunal. The sole arbitrator or the arbitral tribunal is also authorized to resolve on their competence. Consolidation of Arbitrations Upon the request of a party, and in the event certain conditions are met, multiple arbitrations filed under the ISTACArbitration Rules may be consolidated. In the event the parties to the arbitrations are not the same - in other words, in order to joinder additional parties, all parties concerned should consent to the consolidation of arbitrations. If the parties to the multiple arbitrations are the same, either the parties all parties concerned should reach a consensus for consolidation, or all claims in the arbitrations should arise from the same arbitration agree- ment, or if there are parties relying on different arbitration agreements, the disputes should relate to the same legal relationship and the arbitra- tion agreements concerned should be compatible with each other. Arbitrators The parties shall freely determine the number of arbitrators. The Rules refer to one arbitrator as the “sole arbitrator”, and to multiple arbitrators (who must be an uneven number of arbitrators) as the “arbi- tral tribunal/board”. This article shall use the term arbitrator(s) to refer to both the sole arbitrator, and the arbitral tribunal. The parties shall unanimously appoint the sole arbitrator. If an agreement cannot be reached, the Court shall appoint the sole arbi- trator. For an arbitral tribunal to compose, each party shall elect one arbitrator who shall be charged with determining the third arbitrator.