Chapter IV: Practice of arbitration in recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Uzbekistan
3.3. Formation of the Arbitral Tribunal. Basic rules and recommendations
3.3.3. Formation of a panel of arbitrators
If the parties have agreed that their dispute should be resolved by a panel of arbitrators, when filing a claim the claimant shall submit to the arbitration court the notification on the election of an arbitrator and requests the arbitral tribunal to appoint respective arbitrators for the resolution of the dispute if the defendant does not elect an arbitrator and/or if the elected arbitrators do not achieve an agreement on the chairman of the arbitral tribunal within the established time frame.
Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan709 To the Respondent
____________________________________________
(full name of the legal entity /full name of individual)
____________________________________________________________
(postal address of the legal entity / place of residence of a natural person) I hereby notify you on the election of ______________________________
(name of the arbitrator)
as an arbitrator on the claim _____________________ to ______________________
(claimant’s name) (defendant's name)
on __________________________________________________________________
subject of the claim)
In accordance with Article 19 (1) of the Rules of the Arbitration Court, I request the respondent to elect a second arbitrator to resolve the dispute. If the defendant does not elect an arbitrator within the
708 Source: Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan.
709 Source: Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan.
171
established time frame and if the elected arbitrators do not achieve an agreement on time on the candidacy of the chairman of the tribunal, I request the arbitration court to appoint respective arbitrators in accordance with the procedure established in the Rules of the Arbitration Court.
____________________ / ___________________________ / ______________
(signature) (name and title) (date)
The above-mentioned notification shall be sent to the respondent, together with the statement of claim. The respondent shall send to the arbitration court the notification on the election of the second arbitrator within fifteen days from the date of receipt of a copy of the statement of complaint and the notification of the claimant on the election of an arbitrator.710
Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan711
Hereby I notify you on the election of ____________________________________
(name of the arbitrator)
as an arbitrator on the suit to the ___________________ ___________________________
(name of plaintiff) (respondent's name) on ______________________________________________________________.
(subject of the claim)
____________________ / ___________________________ /_______________
(signature) (name and title) (date)
If the arbitration court does not receive the notification of the defendant within fifteen days, the appointment of an arbitrator for the respondent is carried out by the chairman of the arbitration court.
The elected (nominated) arbitrators appoint the chairman of the panel of arbitrators from a list of arbitrators of the arbitration court. In case of not reaching an agreement between the arbitrators on the candidacy of the chairman within fifteen days after the date of their election, the appointment of the chairman of the panel of arbitrators will be carried out by the chairman of the arbitration court.712
The forwarding of the above notification to the arbitration court is not a sufficient requirement for the election of the respective arbitrators. The executive secretary of the arbitration court shall immediately consult with the respective arbitrators to get their consent on the resolution of the dispute, for which they were elected. An arbitrator is considered to be elected only after the signing of a document, in which he certifies the absence of obstacles to perform the duties of an arbitrator (kinship relations or working relationship with one of the disputing parties,
710 Art. 21 of Regulation of the Arbitration Court at the CCI of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
711 Source: Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan.
712 Art. 15 (1) of the Law “On Arbitration Courts” of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
absence of proficiency in the arbitral language, etc.). The following consent form is used at the Arbitration Court at the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Uzbekistan:
Consent713
on the execution of the functions of an arbitrator on the case No. ________________
I ______________________________________________________________
(name of the arbitrator) agree on the execution of the functions of the arbitrator as (__) a sole arbitrator;
(__) the chairman of the arbitral tribunal;
(__) a member of the arbitral tribunal
on the suit ___________________________ to ________________________________
(name of plaintiff) (name of the respondent)
on__________________________________________________________________.
(subject of the claim)
I hereby certify that I meet all the requirements for an arbitrator in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Arbitration Courts”, the Regulation of the Arbitration Court at CCI Uzbekistan and the parties' agreement, and I note that
(_) – I am independent from the parties to the arbitration agreement; and there are no circumstances that could give rise to reasonable doubts to my independence and impartiality;
(_) – I am independent from the parties to the arbitration agreement, but there are some circumstances that might raise doubts to my independence and impartiality:
____________ ___________________________________________________________________.
(specified circumstances)
____________________ / ___________________________ / ___________________
(signature) (name) (date)
The signed agreement is immediately sent to the parties in order to enable them to exercise their right of withdrawal, if they believe that an arbitrator does not meet the requirements set out in the legislation and the Regulation of the Arbitration Court (independence, having no interest in case outcomes, etc.). A party may challenge the arbitrator by submitting to the arbitral tribunal a written reasoned statement of challenge of an arbitrator not later than the first meeting of the arbitral tribunal. When an arbitration party does not submit the statement till the first session of the arbitral tribunal, it can be considered only if the arbitral tribunal recognizes the causes for the delay of a challenge to be reasonable.
On the sole consideration of the dispute the statement of challenge of an arbitrator is tried by the sole arbitrator. The statement of challenge of all members of the arbitral tribunal is tried by the same panel of arbitrators by a simple majority of votes.
The statement of challenge of a member of the arbitral tribunal is considered by the same arbitrator. In this case, if the arbitrator who is being challenged does not withdraw voluntarily or another party to arbitration does not agree to the challenge of an arbitrator, an application for the withdrawal is considered by other arbitrators, which are members of the arbitral tribunal. If
713 Source: Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan.
173
there are equal numbers of votes cast for and against the withdrawal, the arbitrator may withdraw as an arbitrator.714 The need to obtain the consent of an arbitrator to resolve the dispute is that professional arbitrators are quite busy people, occupying leading positions in different organizations, and at the time of submission of the claim to the arbitration court by virtue of employment, business trips, illness or for other reasons, they may not be able to fully perform the functions of an arbitrator to resolve a particular dispute. In the case, if the arbitrator finds that he does not meet the requirements of an arbitrator, for example, in the circumstances, depriving the arbitrator's independence from the parties (kinship or personal relations with the party to arbitration), he refuses to consider the dispute.
Refusal715
to perform the functions of an arbitrator on case number ________________
I ___________________________________________________________
(name of the arbitrator) refuse to perform the functions of an arbitrator due to
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________.
(reasons for refusal)
____________________ / ___________________________ /_________________
(signature) (name) (date)
A refusal to perform the functions of an arbitrator will be sent to the parties, too. If it is rejected, another arbitrator will be appointed by the chairman of the arbitration court. Powers of the arbitrator on dispute resolution are valid from the date of giving consent to the performance of the functions of an arbitrator before the decision on the dispute is made.
The powers of an arbitrator may be terminated in the following cases:
1. by agreement of the parties to the arbitration,
2. due to the resignation or withdrawal of an arbitrator, 3. in the case of the arbitrator's death.
The powers of the arbitrator, terminated in connection with taking a decision in a particular case, can be renewed in the following cases:
taking an additional judgment,
clarifying the decision,
correction of arithmetic errors and misprints.
After performing the above-mentioned actions, the powers of the arbitrator in connection with the case are terminated again. In the event of termination of the powers of an arbitrator during
714 Art. 17 of the Law “On Arbitration Courts” of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
715 Source: Bukhara Department of the Association of Arbitration Courts of Uzbekistan.
the proceedings, the new arbitrator shall be elected (appointed) in accordance with the rules that have been applied in the appointment of the former arbitrator.
3.4. Participation of the parties in considering of the dispute by the panel of arbitrators