66 - The European Court of Human Rights and Arbitration

Summary

This article examines the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights with regard to arbitration. It focuses on the right to a fair trial in civil matters covered by Article 6 ECHR and the right to the protection of property enshrined in Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR.

The full set of the guarantees provided for by Article 6(1) ECHR is applicable only for compulsory arbitration. The Court’s cases under Article 6 mainly concern the control by national courts of voluntary arbitrations. The article analyses the requirements for the voluntary nature of arbitration and scrutinizes when a waiver of the right to a court is effective.

The article also deals with the institutional and procedural requirements of the right to a fair trial in the context of arbitration and the effect of a waiver of the right to a court on them.

The Court has recognized that final and binding arbitral awards are possessions in the sense of the Convention. Therefore, the article analyses the consequences of the quashing or annulling of final and binding awards or their non-enforcement on the rights protected by Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.