Originally from European International Arbitration Review (EIAR)

In November 2011, the Czech judiciary’s long battle against biased awards rendered by privately-owned arbitration centers entered its final. The Czech Constitutional Court held that constitutional guarantees of due process prevent Czech privately-owned arbitration centers from issuing binding procedural rules and appointing arbitrators from their rosters.1 One year later, Czech arbitration practice confirms that this ruling has made it virtually impossible for Czech independent arbitration centers to compete with the state-established Arbitration Court.2 In the opinion of the authors, the Constitutional Court’s decision was disproportionate and unnecessarily has hampered healthy competition in domestic arbitration.