Arbitral institutions make regular decisions on the required impartiality, independence and qualifications of arbitrators. The decisions and their underlying analyses are rarely available to the public. Therefore, the arbitration community is missing a valuable source of clarification and analysis, and a poor clarification and analysis may ultimately lead to untenable appointments and unfounded challenges.

The article and the following decision summaries explain how the Danish Institute of Arbitration approaches the challenge of arbitrators. The article is inspired by the arbitrator challenge digest published by the London Court of International Arbitration a few years ago, but the approach by the Danish Institute of Arbitration is unique in a number of ways.

The Institute’s approach reflects a delicate balance between efficiency, flexibility, party autonomy and due process. Based on the fifty-seven challenge decisions outlined below, the article explains how the Institute aims at finding the right balance in a number of different circumstances. The article thereby provides a tool for in-house attorneys, external counsel, arbitrators, institutional staff and other arbitration practitioners to make the right arguments and proper analyses when dealing with issues concerning the challenge of arbitrators.