Stop! In the Name of Ethics, Before You Break My Bank Account: The "Conflicting" Rights Guaranteed to Parties in International Arbitration by Hrvatska v. Slovenia and Rompetrol v. Romania, and Their Potential as Tactical Weapons

Authors

Misbah Farid

Abstract

International arbitration offers many rights, such as the right to counsel of choice and the right to an independent and impartial arbitration panel and proceeding. However, these guarantees, while they ensure the rights of parties and allow international arbitration to be a viable dispute resolution forum, can also be used as weapons. The viability of these rights as weapons is what reconciles the seemingly conflicting cases of Hrvatska v. Slovenia and Rompetrol v. Romania. Hrvatska sets forth an arbitration tribunal's inherent right to ensure and regulate the proceedings so as to guarantee the rights offered by international arbitration, while Rompetrol limits the arbitration tribunal's inherent powers to ensure and guarantee these rights. This article seeks to argue that, while the limitation of the rights in Hrvatska by the Rompetrol Tribunal is an implicit recognition of the viability of those rights as weapons and, in turn, a need for an international code of ethics, such a pursuit may prove fruitless.

Recommended Citation

Misbah Farid, Stop! In the Name of Ethics, Before You Break My Bank Account: The "Conflicting" Rights Guaranteed to Parties in International Arbitration by Hrvatska v. Slovenia and Rompetrol v. Romania, and Their Potential as Tactical Weapons, 20 U. MIA Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 163 (2013)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol20/iss2/4