Newsletter-21

212 NEWSLETTER 2016 his or her task should be to address the questions of the parties in an impartial manner. Experts Appointed by the Tribunal In cases where a tribunal deems it necessary to lean on the knowl- edge of a specific issue over which it has no particular specialty, it may choose to appoint an expert. Art. 26 of the UNCITRALModel Law on International Commercial Arbitrations (“Model Law”) provides that a tribunal may appoint an expert in relation to specific issues it needs to determine. It is within the tribunal’s discretion to consult the parties when selecting experts, or deciding upon the scope of an experts’ opin- ion. The tribunal may also request the expert to submit a preliminary report upon which the parties may comment. Such comments should be taken into account by the expert in its final report 1 . Under IBA Rules Art. 6, it is provided that a tribunal must con- sult with the parties in appointing an independent expert. The tribunal will set out the terms of reference for the expert it has appointed after consulting with the parties. The parties may inform the tribunal if they have any objections to the expert after the expert has submitted his or her qualifications and a statement of independence. Thereafter the tri- bunal will consider any objections. From this point onward, the parties may only object to any qualifications and statements of independence of the expert if the subject of the parties’ objection comes to light after the expert’s appointment. IBA Rules Art. (6) (3) further provide that the expert can request the parties to submit documents, goods, samples, etc., that are relevant to the case, and the expert’s authority to request such information and documents will be treated the same as the tribunal’s. Counsel’s Role and Relation with Experts The counsel’s role with regard to experts is mainly two-fold. The primary duty of the counsel is to appoint the right expert for the case. This determination will be based upon the subject matter of the dispute, 1 Starrett Housing Corp v The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1987) 16 Iran-US CTR 1112, p. 117-118, par. 6.155.