Arbitration in Asia: the present and future

Arbitration has gained a greater level of acceptance and greater enforceability across the Asian countries than ever before. It is very much a result of the trend that countries in Asia are increasingly involved in international business and playing more important roles in various economic sectors. The universally accepted standards, or international standards, usually help to improve the efficiency of the business. Increasing cross-border business inevitably results in an increase in the demand for dispute resolution to meet international standards.

International arbitral tribunals are apparently better venues for such international standards to be applied than the local courts because of the lack of international exposure of the latter. The New York Convention is also an important factor. The more international transactions, the more disputes to arise, and the more demands for the enforcement of arbitral awards. In light of the visible shift of the economies from the West to Asia, Asian countries acknowledge the importance of enforcement of decisions over the disputes that they are involved in, and recognize the advantage of international arbitration in this regard.

Thanks to the economic achievements made by countries in Asia in recent years, the need for international arbitration has grown dramatically. In this region, markets that traditionally favour arbitration have contributed to a steady growth in cases, and in addition to that, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and some other economies, especially the developing ones, have also become the key users of ICC arbitration in the region.

Fan Mingchao is the North Asia director of ICC Arbitration and ADR; Abhinav Bhushan is the South Asia director of ICC Arbitration and ADR