Originally from Chamber of Arbitration of Milan Rules: A Commentary

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ARTICLE 17 – ACCEPTANCE BY ARBITRATORS

The Secretariat shall inform the arbitrators of their appointment. Within ten days of receiving this notice, the arbitrators shall give notice of their acceptance to the Secretariat.

1. The communication of the appointment by the Chamber

1.1. The communication of the appointment and its acceptance take place directly between the Chamber of Arbitration and the arbitrator. Usually, each party appoints an arbitrator as a member of the arbitral tribunal in the request for arbitration and in the statement of defence, respectively. Then the Secretariat informs the arbitrators of their appointments. Therefore, the arbitrators receive the first communication from the CAM and not from the party that appoints him/her.

1.2. The direct communication implies that the CAM is, since the appointment, the communication centre between the parties and the arbitrators, as it is consistent with Article 9 of the Code of Ethics for Arbitrators attached to the CAM Rules which provides that the arbitrator shall refrain from all unilateral contacts with the parties or their counsels in the entire course of the proceedings.

However, an informal interview of the party with ‘its own’ arbitrator could normally occur before the beginning of the proceedings. This unexceptional situation in itself cannot incur censure and cannot lead to the automatic removal of the arbitrator. Nevertheless, it must be a general inquiry about the arbitrator’s availability and competence in the issues of the dispute and it must not be an examination of facts and circumstances or a discussion on the merits of the case and on the predisposition to favour the appointing party's issues of the case.1