| The practice of international trade is specific and evolves rapidly in accordance with its needs. Today arbitration constitutes the usual way to settle disputes of international commerce. However, certain rules of arbitration do not seem to be adapted with this practice. The written form of the arbitration agreement as required by, inter alia, the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration is one of them. First this thesis presents the rules of these two instruments. Then international trade's practice is examined, and especially the incorporation of arbitration clauses by reference and the use of electronic means to conclude such clauses. There is a noteworthy discrepancy between the rules and reality of trade.; Having exposed the various difficulties, this thesis examines national laws and case law in order to determine whether they offer satisfactory solutions. Different interesting answers have been brought in Civil Law as well as Common Law countries. Yet they remain local and do not allow for harmonization worldwide. They even often vary one from another and are sometimes contradictory.; A more satisfactory solution could be found on the international level, and more specifically by the UNCITRAL. Indeed the Commission entrusted the Working Group II the mission of proposing a solution. A proposal of compromise has been drafted, namely, a revised article of the Model Law and an interpretative instrument of the New York Convention. This soft proposal is interesting but will perhaps not be able to settle all the problems related to the issue of the arbitration clause's form. |
