By: Vikrant Nehra
Other Forms of Specialised Arbitrations
Arbitrations can further be divided, inter alia, into the following categories which may also overlap sometimes with one another:
Sports Arbitration
As the name suggests, sports arbitrations take place in relation to the disputes arising out of a sport. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is one of the preferred forums for the resolution of these kinds of disputes. Broadly speaking, sports disputes tend to fall into two categories: commercial disputes; and disputes of a disciplinary nature. The former covers disputes relating to the execution of commercial contracts, such as those relating to player transfers, broadcasting rights, sponsorship rights, or the staging of sporting events. The latter covers alleged breaches of a particular governing body’s regulations designed to protect, amongst other things, the integrity of its sport, such as doping and match-fixing.
Construction Arbitration
Any arbitration in which the subject matter of the disputes is construction-related can be classified into this category. An arbitration arising from any dispute be it in relation to building an expressway or a Football stadium can fall under this category. In many countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia or Qatar where construction is on the rise, most of the arbitrations are of this type. While the use of other dispute settlement methods such as dispute adjudication boards are relatively new, arbitration has traditionally been used as a method for disputes arising from international construction contracts.
Shipping Arbitration
In shipping arbitrations, the subject matter of the dispute is related to shipping as the name suggests. It is also known as “maritime arbitration”. All disputes arising out of the shipping of goods, damage to the goods in transit through sea or related insurance claims, amongst others, can fall into this category. Historically, London and New York have been the dominant traditional centres of maritime arbitration. In recent years, Singapore and China have gone to significant lengths to develop arbitral systems and to encourage the maritime community to use their venues for the resolution of maritime disputes.
Energy Arbitration
In this type of arbitration, disputes arise in the energy sector. A key source for energy arbitrations is the Energy Charter Treaty. The international energy industry is the single largest user of international arbitration. Arbitration in the energy sector can be in the form of an investor-state dispute or a commercial dispute. These types of disputes form a major part of the arbitrations in oil and gas-producing nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
