INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION AGREEMENT - ISSUE OF AUTONOMY IN ARBITRATION PRACTICE

For parties to submit their future or present disputes to arbitrator there must be an existing arbitration agreement between the parties to do so. It is the arbitration or submission agreement of the parties that form the basis for their reference to an arbitral tribunal. Arbitration agreement is the foundation stone of international commercial arbitration. Arbitration agreement does not only serve as an evidence of the consent of the parties to arbitration and to establish the obligation to arbitrate. It is the basis of the jurisdiction being exercised by the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal can only exercise such power as the parties may have conferred on it expressly or by necessary implication in the term of their agreement.