Newsletter-21

207 ARBITRATION LAW contain a new emphasis enabling the arbitral tribunal to step in and facilitate settlement. The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (“CEDR”) also fo- cused on encouraging arbitrators to settle in international arbitration as of 2007. As a result, the CEDR published the CEDR Rules for the Fa- cilitation of Settlement in International Arbitration 16 (“CEDR Rules”). These CEDR Rules were designed to supplement the applicable rules and legal provisions. Similarly, the International Bar Association also published guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitra- tion 17 (“IBA Guidelines on Conflicts”). Paragraph 4(d) also provides a possibility for the arbitrators to assist the parties in reaching settle- ment. Both the CEDR Rules and the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts point to certain necessities in order for the arbitral tribunal not to make its award susceptible to a successful challenge. This is mainly due to the possible negative effects of such facilitation as to the independence and impartiality of arbitrators. How to Avoid Challenge The arbitral tribunal should not knowingly act in such a way to make its award susceptible to challenge (CEDR Rules art. 3/1). The CEDR Rules, the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts, and legal practition- ers 18 underline certain necessary steps in order for the arbitral tribu- nal’s involvement in settlement not to cause future problems that may affect the integrity of the arbitration proceedings: • The arbitrator should not engage in facilitation of settlement in the absence of the agreement of all parties concerned. The parties should provide their express consent, includ- ing a waiver of confirmation that they will not challenge or 16 For the detailed process of CEDR’s work and access to the full text of CEDR Rules, please see http://www.cedr.com/about_us/arbitration_commission/ (ac- cessed on 26 February 2016). 17 For access to the full text of the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts please see http:// www.ibanet.org/Publications/publications_IBA_guides_and_free_materials. aspx (accessed on 26 February 2016). 18 See Panoy / Petit , op. cit., Koch / Schäfer , op. cit., Raeschke–Kessler , op. cit.