Disclosure Of Third-party Funding In International Arbitration

The expression of third-party funding was translated from “Third-Party Funding”and was initially used in civil litigation,then the applicable field began to expand to arbitration.Third-party funding has achieved remarkable development in international arbitration,but its inherent advantages and disadvantages have also caused controversy.The most striking thing is that third-party funding may catalyze conflicts of interest in international commercial arbitration and lead to arbitration injustice.The existing arbitrator disclosure system is based on the theoretical basis of arbitration impartiality.Most countries and arbitration institutions have arbitrators disclose potential conflicts of interest as a legal obligation.After the third-party funding intervention,the limitations of the existing system are mainly manifested in the following: the disclosure obligations of third-party funding are vague,the disclosure content is lacking,and the disclosure of possible violations of confidentiality obligations is unknown.This article examines relevant legislation and rules,including the United Kingdom,Australia,Hong Kong,and Singapore,and derives the latest experience in building a third-party funding arbitration disclosure system: legislate form to recognize the legitimacy of third-party funding in the field of arbitration,and to distinguish between regulation in the field of litigation and arbitration;to break through the existing industry self-regulation or court-led mode in the Anglo-American legal system countries,adopting a parallel mode of soft law and hard law;in the content design of the disclosure obligation,the new rules generally added the disclosure subject,clarified the scope of disclosure,and began to consciously establish mandatory disclosure obligations.Based on the combination of international experience,this paper attempts to make recommendations on the construction of disclosure system for third-party funding arbitration in China.China's mainland market has great potential.In practice,relevant institutions have begun to explore the industry,but third-party funding is almost unregulated in the Mainland.Under the background that the combination oflaw and capital is becoming the trend of the times,exploring the relationship between third-party funding and international arbitration,and seeking to think about the third-party funding norms in the field of arbitration can not only clear the obstacles for the parties to seek judicial and quasi-judicial relief.It is also the proper meaning of enhancing China's international arbitration status and building an international arbitration center with world influence.