ACES Emergency Arbitration under WESA Arbitration Rules
What is ACES Emergency Arbitration?
If you are in a dispute and are considering initiating arbitration proceedings, sometimes there is also a need for preliminary measures to be addressed by the arbitrator(s) on a time-sensitive basis. This is for example the case if the other party tries to remove all its assets or if you want to stop the other side from a certain action as long as the arbitration proceedings are not finished yet.
You can only initiate ACES (Emergency) Arbitration proceedings under the WESA Arbitration Rules if your dispute is subject to an arbitration agreement referring to the WESA Arbitration Rules. Such arbitration agreement can be included in the agreement with the other party that is the basis of the dispute. However, the parties can also agree on ACES Arbitration at the time the dispute has already arisen by separate agreement. In many WESA regulations, a reference to ACES Arbitration is already included by default.
If the Arbitral Tribunal has already been established, you can file a request for preliminary measures to the Tribunal. However, as long as the Arbitral Tribunal has not been established yet, you can file a request for preliminary measures to an Emergency Arbitrator.
The Emergency Arbitrator will do his/her best to conclude the emergency arbitration proceedings within a time period as short as possible.
How does the procedure work?
The request for interim measures should contain the same information as a Notice of Arbitration (for more details on the conduct of ACES Arbitration you can download the ACES Arbitration Manual: ACES Arbitration Manual). You should in particular state in the your request for emergency arbitration on which right you rely on, why in your view it is violated and why the order of a preliminary measure is urgently required.
After the Emergency Arbitrator has received your request for interim measures, he/she will determine the next steps.
Please note that it is possible that the Emergency Arbitrator will at the beginning of the proceedings ask you for a preliminary advance on his/her fees of EUR 1,000.
You should bear in mind that in case of a request for interim measures, the other side is entitled to ask you to also initiate the main arbitration proceedings. If you do not follow that request within 14 days from the receipt of the other side’s request, a decision on interim measures will lose its legal effect.
Where do I send my request for emergency arbitration to?
In case you want to initiate ACES Emergency Arbitration proceedings under the WESA Arbitration Rules, you can send your request to the following email address:
The emergency arbitrator selected to hear your dispute will be selected based on a strictly rotating basis. Your request will be forwarded to the particular emergency arbitrator on duty who will first make a conflict check. The purpose of such conflict check is to find out if there have been any prior involvements between the emergency arbitrator and the parties that might raise doubts about his/her impartiality or independence of the parties. If such a conflict exists, the next emergency arbitrator in the rotation will assume the case (subject to the same conflict check procedure).
If the conflict check is successful, the emergency arbitrator will contact you and determine the next steps of the proceedings. In any event, we strongly recommend consulting a specialized lawyer in case you become involved in emergency arbitration proceedings in order to protect your legal rights efficiently.