Independence and Impartiality of Arbitrators, Mediators and Experts

Summary

As General Reporters on this theme for the XVII World Congress of Procedural Law, held in Lima in September 2023, the authors present a comparative synthesis of the national reports on the independence and impartiality of arbitrators, mediators and experts. The chapter examines how these two related but distinct requirements — independence as an objective, structural condition, impartiality as a state of mind — are defined, tested and enforced across legal systems and across dispute resolution settings. It surveys the applicable standards, the duties of disclosure and the challenge procedures for arbitrators, mediators and court- or party-appointed experts, identifying convergences and divergences between common law and civil law approaches and between institutional and ad hoc frameworks. It also considers the pressures now bearing on these guarantees, including repeat appointments, conflicts of interest and the expanding role of experts in complex disputes.