Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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Two parallel developments should help to bring about the more complete integration of arbitration within European Community (EC) Law -- the continued development of this means of dispute resolution in both national and international law on the one hand,[1] and, on the other, the accelerated intensification of trade relations within the Community as result of the creation of the "Single Market" after January 1, 1993.

Nonetheless, formal guidance on the proper place of arbitration within the Community's legal framework remains scarce. Despite the fact that arbitral tribunals are presented with more and more cases involving EC competition (antitrust) law, case law on the subject remains rare on both the EC and national levels.[2] The Community's constitutive treaties contain few provisions concerning arbitration. Of note are Article 65.5 of the treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community,[3] Article 220 of the Treaty of Rome establishing the EEC,[4] and Articles 181 and 182 of the Treaty of Rome, which the European Court of Justice recently applied in one of its very few, and therefore especially interesting, decisions relating to arbitration.[5]
The most common problem for an arbitrator faced with a matter involving Community law stems from the preliminary issue of the arbitrability of such a dispute. This complex question, which is of particular concern in EC competition law cases, has been the subject of extensive analysis,[6] and is generally beyond the scope of this comment.