Importance of the Law Applicable to the Arbitration Agreement in International Commercial Arbitration

This article analyzes the law applicable to the arbitration agreement in international commercial arbitration and some of the issues that could arise when the parties do not choose any particular law to govern their arbitration agreement. Parties frequently determine the substantive law that will govern the merit of the dispute and the rules applicable to the arbitration procedure. However, parties generally remain silent about the law that will govern the arbitration agreement itself, which could lead to unexpected or undesired effects before, during, and after arbitration, most of which could be avoided by simply selecting the law applicable to the arbitration agreement.