Originally from World Arbitration Reporter (WAR) - 2nd Edition

Preview Page

I.  INTRODUCTION: ARBITRATION IN CYPRUS

A. Current Legislation on Arbitration

1. Current law

a) Domestic arbitration law

Cyprus has a dualist lex arbitri. Domestic arbitrations are primarily governed by the Arbitration Law (“ARL”), which was enacted on 6th January 1944 and established a regime that is very similar to that of the English Arbitration Act 1950.

The ARL applies to all domestic and international arbitrations, except international commercial arbitrations. This appears to be a common conviction, albeit the ARL does not specify its field of application.

Contrary to modern trends in arbitration practice, the ARL affords the Courts with wide powers of intervention. Examples include the power to set aside  or remit  an award for misconduct, and the case-stated procedure.  Nonetheless, Court powers under the ARL often fall short of meeting the demands of modern arbitration practice. Little is said in the law about the powers of the arbitrator; even less about the conduct of the reference. Sadly, the Law has never been amended and most practitioners agree that the legislature should revisit this matter without further delay.

b) International arbitration law

Until the enactment of the International Commercial Arbitration Law of 1987 (“ICA”), international commercial arbitrations were also governed by the ARL. By the ICA, Cyprus adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985) (“Model Law”), with minor adjustments.