The Confidentiality of the Procedures of Thai Arbitration and the Principle of Transparency under the Con

Abstract

The principle of transparency under the Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration aims at reiterating the principle of fair and just process. This principle requires the parties to the disputes disclose evidence and information in the arbitral process. This principle was first introduced under the UNCITRAL arbitration Rules in 2013 . Therefore, this independent study will explore and compare this principle under the UNCITRAL rules, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute rules (ICSID) and the International Chamber of Commerce rules (ICC). Furthermore, this research will explore the Thai arbitration rules to determine whether they are compatible to the UNCITRAL transparency rules. Generally, disputes arising before arbitration in Thailand are mostly investment disputes, which the confidentiality is the major concern for parties to the disputes. Even thought the confidentiality is regarded as a major concern for arbitration, it is not stated under the Arbitration Act BE, 2545 . Instead, this principle is provide under the Thailand ’s Code of Ethics for arbitrators. This can be imply that if the arbitrators take the principle of transparency into account when examing disputes, Thailand can gain more benefits from this aspect. That means Thailand can ensure, at least, foreign investors that their cases will be examined under the principle of fair and just process. Accordingly Thailand should ratify and become a Member State to this Convention. In doing so, Thailand may have to amend its Arbitration Act in order to perform the obligations under the Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration Keywords: Transparency,