ICELAND
I. INTRODUCTION: ARBITRATION IN ICELAND HISTORY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
A. History and Current Legislation on Arbitration
1. Historical evolution of law relating to arbitration
a) Arbitration in the Icelandic Commonwealth
b) Arbitration in modern Iceland
c) Statutory arbitration
2. Current law
3. Law reform projects
4. Confidentiality and publication
B. Arbitration Infrastructure and Practice in Iceland
1. Arbitration Institutions in Iceland
a) The Court of Arbitration of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce
2. Preferred form of arbitration
3. Development of arbitration compared with litigation
II. CURRENT LAW AND PRACTICE
A. Arbitration Agreement
1. Types and validity of arbitration agreements
a) Arbitration clauses and submission agreements
b) Essential content and formal requirements of the arbitration agreement i. Positive requirements ii. Negative requirements
c) Incorporation by reference
d) Law applicable to the interpretation of arbitration agreements
2. Enforcing arbitration agreements
a) Enforcement of an arbitration agreement within a court proceeding
b) Legal remedies and proceedings to enforce the agreement
3. Binding effect of arbitration agreement on third parties
4. Termination of the arbitration agreement
B. Doctrine of Separability
1. Statutory provisions
2. Practice and case law
C. The Arbitral Tribunal’s Jurisdiction (“competence-competence”)
1. Competence of the tribunal to decide on its own jurisdiction
2. Interaction of national courts and tribunals
a) Action bought before the District Court despite an arbitration agreement
b) Supportive actions by the District Court
D. Arbitrability
1. Subjective arbitrability
a) natural persons
b) Legal entities
2. Objective arbitrability
E. Arbitral Tribunal
1. Status and qualifications of arbitrators
a) Number of arbitrators
b) Qualifications and accreditation requirements
i. General requirements
ii. Independence and impartiality
iii. Duty of disclosure
iv. Disputes regarding the arbitrators’ qualifications
c) Status of arbitrators
2. Appointment of arbitrators
a) Methods of appointment
b) Appointing authorities
c) Resignation and its consequences
3. Challenge and replacement of arbitrators
a) Grounds for challenging an arbitrator
b) Procedure for a challenge
c) Deadlines for a challenge
d) Removal and replacement of arbitrators
4. Arbitrator liability and immunity
a) Duties and liabilities of arbitrators regarding the conduct of proceedings
b) Tortuous liability of arbitrators
c) Professional insurance
d) Ability to restrict or exclude the arbitrators’ liability
F. Conducting the Arbitration
1. Law governing procedure
a) Determination of law and rules governing the procedure (seat of arbitration)
b) Mandatory rules of procedure
2. Conduct of arbitration
a) Basic procedural principles
b) Party autonomy and arbitrators’ power to determine procedure
c) Oral hearing or proceedings on basis of written documents
d) Submissions and notifications
e) Deadlines
f) Distinction between matters of substance and matters of procedure
g) Legal representation
h) Default proceedings
3. Taking of evidence
a) Admissibility
b) Burden of proof
c) Standard of proof
d) Evidentiary means - in genera
e) Documentary evidence and privileges
f) Production of documents
g) Witnesses
h) Tribunal- and party-appointed experts
4. Interim measures of protection
a) Types of measures
b) Orders to provide security for proceeding costs
c) Attachment of assets
5. Interaction between national courts and arbitral tribunals
a) Procedure for seeking the District Court’s assistance
b) Court assistance before the arbitration begins
c) Court assistance after the arbitration
6. Multi-party, multi-action and multi-contract arbitration
a) Multi-party arbitration
b) Consolidation of different arbitrations and joinder of third parties
7. Law and rules of law applicable to the merits
a) Determination of the applicable law and rules by the parties
b) Determination by the arbitrators
c) Non-national substantive rules, general principles of law and transnational rules
8. Costs of arbitration
a) Arbitration and legal costs
b) Security for costs
G. Arbitration Awards
1. Types of Awards
a) Final awards, partial awards and other decisions of the tribunal
b) Default awards
c) Consent awards
2. Form requirements
a) Essential content of an award
b) Reasons
c) Time limits for making award
d) Notification to parties and registration
3. Remedies
4. Decision making
a) Deliberations
b) Procedure for the arbitrators’ decision
5. Settlement
a) Settlement recorded in an award (award on agreed terms)
b) Settlement without an award
c) Settlement attempts and techniques by arbitrators
d) Setting aside awards on agreed terms
6. Effects of award
a) Effects between the parties
b) Effects against third parties
c) Res judicata
7. Correction, supplementation, and amendment
H. Challenge and Other Actions against the Award
1. Setting aside the Award
a) Grounds for setting aside an award
i. Validity of the arbitration agreements
ii. Qualifications of the arbitrators
iii. Significant procedural errors
iv. The arbitrators exceed their mandate
v. Formal requirements of the award
vi. The award is founded on unlawful grounds or is contrary to public policy
b) Time limits
c) The challenge procedure
d) Limiting judicial review of awards by contract
e) Effect of a successful challenge
2. Appeal on the merits
III. RECOGNITION AND ENFOREMCENT OF AWARDS
A. Domestic Awards
1. Requirements for an enforcement procedure
2. Details of the enforcement procedure
a) Enforcement of a payment or a performance obligation
b) Possible grounds for objecting enforcement
B. Foreign Awards
1. National law on recognition and/or enforcement of the award
2. Applicable conventions or treaties on recognition and/or enforcement of foreign awards
3. Procedure for the enforcement of Foreign Awards
a) Party seeking enforcement must apply to the District Court
b) Documents required for the enforcement application
4. Application of the New York Convention
IV. APPENDICES AND RELEVANT INSTRUMENTS
A. National Legislation (See CD-ROM)
B. Major Arbitration Institutions
C. Cases
D. Bibliography
1. Monographs and journals
2. Icelandic legislation
3. Websites
