UNCITRAL: International Commercial Arbitration - South Africa

Commercial arbitration is growing in importance in the modern world. People often use arbitration to ensure adjudication by an expert in the field and although arbitration may not always be quicker, its importance continues to grow especially in international commercial disputes. Effective arbitration procedures will have positive consequences for the economical and political relationships between countries. The Arbitration Act 42 of 1965 might have sufficed in the past, but as international commercial arbitration is ever increasing and changing, this act has become out-dated. It does not effectively facilitate international commercial arbitration. The Act was primarily designed with domestic commercial arbitration in mind and therefore it is of limited assistance in the international commercial arbitration sphere. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law has developed the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. This Model Law or variations thereof can be adopted by a country to regulate international commercial arbitration.