Arbitration in the era of e-commerce: A comprehensive overview

Technology is continuously evolving and has changed human interaction. It is consequently changing the ways disputes are solved. International dispute resolution procedures, and international arbitration, more specifically, are considerably influenced by the rapid expansion of innovative technologies. Years after the dot-com boom, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) emerged and evolved considerably. Due to the digitalization of ODR methods, remote arbitration (or e-arbitration) is expanding. Arbitration is of particular interest due to its formal and binding nature, from a theoretical perspective. E-arbitration, as other ODR methods have attractive features as well as drawbacks, which are addressed in this document. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: providing an overview of e-arbitration and the different considerations of this method, presenting the e-arbitration models of the European Union (EU), the United States (US), and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and suggesting recommendations to improve international e-commerce arbitration, notably through a revision of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (UNCITRAL Model Law).