Study On Several Legal Issues Of Online Arbitration

In the web-economy era, the proliferation of E-commerce has imposed a great impact on human social lives and become an important factor that causes transformation of social, political and economic institutions. International commercial arbitration also faces severe challenge from E-commerce, because traditional international commercial arbitration cannot satisfy the need of solving E-commerce disputes properly. Online arbitration emerges in order to solve E-commerce disputes reasonably and effectively and reflects a new trend of international commercial arbitration development in this new era. Combined with the virtual and open cyberspace, online arbitration has encountered a series of problems under current legislation framework. Whether these problems can be properly solved will directly influence the future development of online arbitration,The thesis first makes a general introduction about online arbitration, including development background, comparison between traditional arbitration and online arbitration, online arbitration practice, merits and demerits, etc. Then, it concentrates on three major issues, including whether online arbitration agreements satisfy form requirements, how to deal with the problem of "place of arbitration frustration", and whether online arbitration awards are enforceable under the 1958 New York Convention. Finally, it analyzes legal obstacles that online arbitration may encounter under China's current arbitration legislation framework and clarifies measures might be taken to establish online arbitration institution in China in recent years.