Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023 - 119

NUMÉRO SPÉCIAL AFRIQUE
When a person is approached in connection with his or her possible
appointment as an arbitrator, he or she shall disclose any circumstances likely
to give rise to justifiable doubts as to his or her impartiality or independence.
An arbitrator, from the time of his or her appointment and throughout the
arbitral proceedings, shall without delay disclose any such circumstances to
the parties and the other arbitrators unless they have already been informed by
him or her of these circumstances. 27
The Arbitration Rules of the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA)
2019 includes more express details under Rule 8 that,
(1) An arbitrator conducting an arbitration under these Rules shall be impartial
and independent of the parties and shall not act in the arbitration as advocate
for any party.
(2) An arbitrator shall not, whether before or after appointment, advise any
party on the merits or outcome of the dispute.
(3) Prior to the appointment or confirmation by the Centre, a prospective
arbitrator shall, [...] (c) sign a declaration to the effect that there are no
circumstances known to him that are likely to give rise to any justified doubts
as to his impartiality or independence, other than the circumstances disclosed
in the arbitrator's declaration.
The provisions of the Rules effectively require the prospective arbitrator to
make necessary disclosures before accepting the appointment, and whenever any
circumstance that may raise doubts as to his or her impartiality or independence
arises during the arbitration. Similar provisions are included in the 2018 Arbitration
Rules of the Lagos Court of Arbitration. 28
These all give effect to the UNCITRAL
arbitration regime standard and the requirements for arbitrator disclosure, and
grounds for challenge of the arbitrator.
The next section examines how some national courts in common law African
states have interpreted and applied these provisions. 29
B. Decisions by some national courts
This section discusses the decisions of some national courts on arbitrator
disclosure (B1), basis of arbitrator challenge (B2), the test for the challenge of
arbitrators (B3), the time to challenge arbitrators (B4), and the procedure for
arbitrator challenge (B5).
rules/. Articles 14 and 15 of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre
(LACIAC) Arbitration Rules 2016, text is available at: https://arbitration.co.za/international-arbitration/
international-rules/. See also section 53 of the Nigerian ACA and the First Schedule to the ACA.
27. Article 17 of the Kigali International Arbitration Centre (KIAC) Rules 2012 are in the same
terms.
28. Article 14 of the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA) Rules 2018, available at: https://www.lca.
org.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/AMENDED-LCA-RULES-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf.
29. Access to decisions on arbitrator challenges by arbitration institutions in these African states
is limited because such decisions are not published.
Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage 2023‑2
393

https://arbitration.co.za/international-arbitration/international-rules/ https://arbitration.co.za/international-arbitration/international-rules/ https://arbitration.co.za/international-arbitration/international-rules/ https://www.lca.org.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/AMENDED-LCA-RULES-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf https://www.lca.org.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/AMENDED-LCA-RULES-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf

Revue - Les Cahiers de l'Arbitrage N°2 - 2023

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