Newsletter-21

186 NEWSLETTER 2016 the arbitration, or at any time thereafter. They may also vary them or use them as guidelines in developing their own procedures.” It is also further stated under Article 1(1) of the IBA Guidelines of Evidence that the parties or the arbitral tribunal may decide on its application. In cases where parties decide that this would govern their proceedings, the arbitral tribunal is bound to apply them. Impact of Soft Law PRTs do not enjoy the same authority as arbitration laws. It would not provide a state court authority with immediate effect 3 . In order for PRTs to have authority, there should be a factor that gives such author- ity. An undisputed authority would be the agreement of the parties. It could be said that in cases where parties decide to apply a PRT in their arbitration agreement, this would bind the arbitral tribunal as the procedural law, as well as the applicable contract law. Application of the PRTs impact state courts, arbitral institutions, and the parties. It should be noted that all of these actors must comply with the minimum standard imposed by the lex arbitri . They could use the PRT as a guide when interpreting lex arbitri, but are not bound by them. The IBA Guidelines on Evidence has a unique position among other PRTs in practice; the arbitral tribunal tends to apply it even if parties do not decide on its application 4 . Applying these rules would facilitate arbitral tribunals’work; provide some assurance to the parties that the tribunal would respect parties’ rights to due process. It should also be borne in mind that arbitrators and the parties should examine the necessities of each case, and then decide upon a PRT’s application, since in some smaller cases with domestic features, it would impose a burden to apply complex procedural rules. The impact of such IBA Guidelines on Evidence on state courts is, however, weak. This is explained by some scholars that procedural 3 Stacher, Macro , The Authority of Para-Regulatory Texts in ASA Special Series No: 37, p. 108. 4 Kaufmann-Kohler, Gabrielle , Soft Law in International Arbitration: Codifica- tion and Normativity, Journal of International Dispute Resolution, 2010, p. 14.