Arbitrajul internațional – audierile virtuale la un an după provocările pandemiei de coronavirus

Rezumat

As a result of the coronavirus crisis, it seems inevitable that the number of commercial disputes will increase and, in this environment, arbitration has proved an agile, resilient and also flexible, adaptable mechanism to the challenging times to which it is subjected. However, arbitrations have continued during the crisis not just because of the scope for controversial situations arisen due to pandemic, but also because some court litigations have been postponed or stopped for a while and especially due to the extended court closure arising from the pandemic restrictions. Therefore, the viable solution remained arbitration. Arbitration growth its strength with parties selecting it over litigation for more different practical reasons, even from the negotiation stage, when parties expressed more inclination and interest towards arbitration. The impact of coronavirus has forced arbitral institutions, parties, their counsels and other participants to act and quickly adopt new modern means of electronic case management tools to convene virtual hearings. In this respect, protocols and relevant guidelines to remote procedure have been promulgated in order to offer the necessary flexibility, the tools and a steady mechanism required to resort to arbitration. The arbitral institutions contributed to the arbitration stability and foreseeability by cooperating and issuing guides for the use of the technology in the most effective and efficient possible way, to achieve a world prepared to face this new coronavirus era. That is why we consider that these virtual tools should be adopted also for the future, to benefit of them in the post pandemic era.