1. Introduction

At a time of a lively debate on the necessity of setting-aside proceedings in contemporary framework of international commercial arbitration, this book provides a novel contribution to that debate from a somewhat unusual perspective—that of arbitrating parties’ procedural human rights and States’ obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Recently, more and more States have loosened their national arbitration laws and minimized judicial scrutiny over arbitration proceedings by allowing arbitrating parties to voluntary exclude setting-aside proceedings. Some have gone as far to statutorily exclude the annulment mechanism altogether. While seemingly enhancing arbitral efficiency, such approaches to excluding the annulment of arbitral awards equally raise concerns as to their compatibility with arbitrating parties’ most fundamental human rights, such as the right to a fair hearing and the right to an independent and impartial tribunal. By creatively synthesizing two seemingly disparate fields of law—arbitration and human rights, in particular under the ECHR, the present work seeks to identify the most balanced legislative approach from the standpoint of compatibility with the ECHR to excluding setting-aside proceedings under national arbitration law.