5 Interim Relief

Subject(s):

Arbitral rules — Arbitral agreements — Arbitral tribunals — Arbitrators — Place of arbitration — Preliminary proceedings

This chapter discusses the interim relief measures issued during arbitration proceedings. Interim measures represent one of the most difficult areas in arbitration as it is characterized by the tribunal’s broad discretion and the need for a grant of enforcement by the state court. In a dispute, whether a party finally achieves its requested legal protection will depend on interim measures of protection: the disclosure of a trade secret, for example, cannot be undone even if an award or judgment later finds that the trade secret was illegal. While state court interim measures per se follow the general rules of civil procedural law at the place of their issuance, they pose a number of challenges at the interface between these general local civil procedure rules and the particularities of arbitration, particularly in cross-border disputes.