This piece was first published in the October 2017 edition of the Manupatra Competition Law Reports.

Over the years arbitration has become a preferred private and consensual mode of dispute resolution. Arbitral tribunals and courts have been dealing with complex contracts and rapidly evolving the law relating to arbitrations. An issue commonly faced by arbitral tribunals is whether the dispute referred to it is arbitrable in the first place. These questions commonly arise when allegations of fraud are made before a tribunal, or a reference is made to decide issues relating to competition law.

Traditionally, courts across jurisdictions have taken the view that competition law disputes are non-arbitrable. This was because arbitration being a private and consensual mode of dispute resolution, was considered to be an inappropriate forum for deciding competition law issues which related to the larger public interest of promoting competitive markets. However, around late 1980s to early 1990s, the judicial trend on arbitration of competition law disputes changed. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Mitsubishi Motor Corp. v. Soler Chrysler Plymouth[1] (Mitsubishi) and the European Court of Justice’s decision in Eco Swiss China Time Ltd. v. Benetton International N.V.[2] held that an arbitral tribunal could also arbitrate upon competition law issues.
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