Keeping the Invisible Hand under Control? -Arbitrator's Mandate and Assisting Third Parties

Abstract

First paragraph: Facing the possibility of being forced to pay over $50 billion dollars awarded in the Yukos arbitration, unsurprisingly, the Russian Federation filed a writ at the District Court in The Hague to set aside the awards. As expected, the controversial issues related to the award of the tribunal arc listed as the grounds for setting aside; the tribunal's lack of jurisdiction under arts 21(1), 26 and 45 of the Energy Charter Treaty, invalidity of the arbitration agreemcnt, the composition of the tribunal, arbitrability of tax issues, the mandate of the tribunal, and the breach of public policy. What is interesting for researchers watching the development of the Yukos case is the RF's argument over the possible inputs contributed to the awards by the arbitral tribunal's legal assistant. In essence, the RF argues that the arbitrators delegated substantial responsibilities to the tribunal's assistant and thus breached their mandate to perform their duties personally. As a consequence, the Russian Federation contends that the award should be set aside on the grounds of art 1065(1) (c) of the DCCP.