Investor Presentaiton
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UNCITRAL 1976 do not contain rules on the consolidation of
disputes. Importantly, they do not preclude such a motion either.
The UNCITRAL Rules were amended in 2010 to address joinder
and now explicitly allow “one or more third persons to be joined in
the arbitration as a party provided such person is a party to the
arbitration agreement, unless the arbitral tribunal finds [...] that
joinder should not be permitted because of prejudice to any of those
parties." (Article 17.5). However, the UNICITRAL Rules still do
not address consolidation in situations when not all parties have
consented to the same arbitration agreement.
4. Consolidation provisions in IIAS
A number of recent IIAS have included consolidation
provisions. However, the practice is neither widespread nor uniform.
Two kinds of provisions can be identified. The first is a restatement
of the general rule found in arbitration that consolidation is possible,
if all of the parties concerned agree. For example, the Malaysia-New
Zealand FTA (2009) provides in Article 10.27:
"Where two or more investors notify an intention to submit
claims, or have submitted claims, separately to arbitration
under Article 10.21 (Submission of a Claim to Arbitration)
and the claims have a question of law or fact in common and
arise out of the same or similar events or circumstances, all
concerned disputing parties may agree to consolidate those
claims in any manner they deem appropriate, including with
respect to the forum chosen."
The practical significance of such a provision is limited. First,
although helpfully drawing attention to the possibility of
consolidation, it does not create, but merely restates, a right already
119 Some other sets of arbitral rules do have provisions on consolidation.
See, in particular, Article 4(6) of the ICC Rules of Arbitration and
Article 11 of the SCC Arbitration Rules.
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