It is not uncommon —especially in the field of investment arbitration— for parties to agree that arbitration proceedings be conducted entirely bilingually, which results in bilingual authentic awards and interlocutory decisions. The article discusses certain side effects of these procedural arrangements, particularly in a context where not all of the members of the tribunal are fully or reasonably competent in all agreed languages, and depicts certain occurrences of these problems in past practice. By way of conclusion, some suggestions are made to parties and arbitration institutions to avoid or alleviate these detrimental effects and the ensuing increased costs and delays.
Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review]