Online Arbitration And Its Legal Issues

This dissertation mainly discusses the legal issues of online arbitration. For this purpose, the structure of this dissertation is as follows: Chapter I is an introduction of the impacts of the popularization and development of the Internet on commercial arbitration, the inter relationship between them, and the trend of development of commercial arbitration under the environment of the Internet. Chapter III makes an overall examination on the fundamental concept and basic requirements of online arbitration, tells about its actual process, and discusses the unique contributions that online technology has made in online arbitration. Chapter III is focused on introducing principle international online dispute resolution (ODR) service providers and their online arbitration practice, with a brief review of the history of ODR and non-arbitration ODR mechanisms. Chapter IV then introduces in detail online domain name dispute arbitration, currently the most successful form of online arbitration. Chapter V through VIII address the relevant legal issues of online arbitration, including the formality requirement of online arbitration agreement and online arbitration award (Chapter V), the place of online arbitration (Chapter VI), online arbitration and due process (Chapter VII) and the recognition and enforcement of the online arbitration award (Chapter VIII). Chapter IX examines the feasibility of online arbitration under the 1994 Chinese Arbitration Law and makes suggestions on the legal environment needed for the development of online arbitration. Finally, the paper concludes that although there remain some legal problems related to online arbitration, domestic and international arbitration laws or treaties pose no real obstacles to the development of online arbitration.I. Commercial Arbitration in the Internet EraThe history of commercial arbitration shows that the development of international economy and trade has always been the incentive for the development of international commercial arbitration. The extent and direction of the development of international economy and trade have always decided those of the international commercial arbitration. Modern international commercial arbitration not only has to comply with the arbitration agreement concluded by the parties but also has to be restricted by arbitral laws (including international treaties recognized or entered into by a state) and judicial power (judicial review), therefore, showing the hubrid nature, even if the contractual characteristic is still the soul of the whole arbitration system. As arbitration becomes a service industry, the prevailing trend for the development of the international commercial arbitration is for the court to strengthen support and assistance but loosen supervision and control to commercial arbitration. Scientific and technological advancement promote the development of modern international economy and trade. New technologies will of coursereflect itself in arbitration, the major dispute resolution mechanism, and lead to reforms in arbitration laws. Thus, science and technology will exert great influence on the arbitration process and its legal regime, and to a great extent decides the direction of development of international commercial arbitration. Looking forward to the 21 st century, we can see the promising future of Chinese arbitration, especially Chinese international commercial arbitration.The Internet's powerful functions in the formation, storage, processing and communication of information makes it widely accepted and utilized by the international society. The Internet was originally used to keep and transmit information, but now it has been adopted as a platform for business and e-commerce. People have found more and more applications of the Internet. E-commerce suddenly becomes the major way of post-modem international trade, exerting great influence on the traditional way of international trade.The age-old arbitration has answered the up-take of the Internet: the Internet has become an important i...