The Place of Multiparty Commercial Arbitration under Ethiopian Arbitration Law

Abstract

Multiparty arbitration is crafted to satisfy the interest of parties involved in circumventing complex commercial transactions resulting from interdependency of
international commerce and globalization. It is all about how the issues of joinder, intervention, consolidation, and appointments of the arbitrator are managed in multiparty commercial disputes. With the primary aim of assessing the legal status, and the place of third-party participation in commercial arbitration, such as joinder, intervention, consolidation, and appointments of the arbitrator in multiparty dispute under Ethiopian arbitration law, doctrinal legal research methodology is employed. Accordingly, the finding of the paper shows that multi-party arbitration is not given proper attention. Neither the 1960 Civil Code (CC) nor the 1965 Civil Procedure Code (CPC) provides for the possibility of joinder, intervention, and consolidation of the arbitration proceeding saving for what's provided under Art.317 (1) of the CPC. The same is true for appointments of arbitrators. Again, the leading arbitration institution in the country, Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectorial Association (AACCSA), institutional rules is silent on the issues of joinder, intervention, and consolidation of the arbitral proceeding though it regulated the appointments of arbitrators in multi party disputes.To this effect, the author argues for the proper facilitation of multi-party arbitration in our context because of various reasons. First, since the multiparty dispute is the fruits of globalization, Ethiopia cannot avoid globalization and the conundrum of multi-party disputes. Second, the construction industry in which the issues of the multi-party dispute is common is substantially increasing. Finally, the current move of the Ethiopian government towards the privatization of big companies has also a tendency to increase multi-party disputes. Accordingly, it is recommendable for Ethiopian legislators to reconsider and amend its arbitration law with proper inculcation of modern approaches and practices to multi-party arbitration