A Critical Look at the Prague Rules: Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration

Due to the increasingly common dissatisfaction regarding the inefficiency of arbitral proceedings, the Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration, also known as the Prague Rules, have launched in December 2018, with the purpose of increasing the efficiency of arbitral proceedings by encouraging arbitral tribunals to take more of a proactive role in conducting their proceedings. In this article, the provisions of the Prague Rules are examined, in light of those of the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, in order to determine the outlook on the efficacy of the Prague Rules on enhancing the efficiency in arbitral proceedings. The author concludes that more specific and detailed provisions with respect to what the Prague Rules mean by such a “proactive arbitral tribunal” should have been explicitly included in light of the Rules’ repeated emphasis on such. Also, the prospective outlook on the Prague Rules is not entirely clear as the text does not appear to fill the gaps in the other widely utilized arbitration rules or supplement them in a meaningful way. However, given that only a short amount of time has passed since the launch late last year, only time will tell how effective the Prague Rules will be in increasing the efficiency of arbitral proceedings, pursuant to the intended effects of such Rules.