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37 Brit. Y. B. Int'l L. 478 (1961)
The European Convention on International Commerical Arbitration

handle is hein.journals/byrint37 and id is 484 raw text is: NOTES THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION* By P. I. BENJAMIN' ON 21 April 1961 a European Convention on International Commercial Arbitration was signed at Geneva by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Byelorussian S.S.R., Czecho- slovakia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Roumania, Turkey, the Ukrainian S.S.R., the U.S.S.R., and Yugoslavia. The Conven- tion was the outcome of a Special Meeting of Plenipotentiaries from twenty-two countries' which met from IO to 2i April 196i to consider a draft convention3 that had been drawn up by the ad hoc Working Group on Arbitration4 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Committee on the Development of Trade. Although, as its name indicates, the Convention is primarily an instrument designed to cope with certain difficulties that may impede the organization and operation of international commercial arbitration in relations between European countries, it is open for signature or accessions by any member country of the Economic Commission for Europe (the United States is in fact the only non-European country that is a member of E.C.E.) or by any country admitted to the Commission in a consultative capacity under paragraph 8 of the Commission's terms of reference,6 and for accession7 by any country entitled to participate in the activities of the Commission under paragraph ii of its terms of reference.8 This paragraph of the Commission's terms of reference has been frequently used in the past to enable non-European countries that are members of the United Nations (e.g. Canada, Israel and Japan) to participate in the work of E.C.E. The Convention's ten articles are aimed at solving certain questions of a hetero- geneous character that constitute obstacles to the use of arbitration as an effective means of settling European trade disputes. Unlike the Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards of io June 1958 (hereinafter referred to as 'the (© P. I. Benjamin, 1962. Assistant Legal Adviser, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The views expressed in this article are the writer's personal views and should not be interpreted as those of the Organization. The Final Act of the meeting was signed, in addition to the countries referred to above, by Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Subsequently the Convention was signed by Spain on 14 December 1961 and by Finland on 2 December 1961. 3 Although the United Kingdom played an extremely active part in the ad hoc Working Group, it had always refrained from taking part in the drafting of the Convention, largely due to its view that the matters dealt with by Article IV of this Instrument were not suitable for inclusion in an international Convention. 4 On this work, see Benjamin, in International and Comparative Law Quarterly (1958), p. a. 5 See Article X, paragraph i. The Convention is open for signature until 31 December 1961 inclusive and thereafter it is open for accession (see Article X, paragraph 3). 6 This provision allows the Commission to admit in a consultative capacity European nations not Members of the United Nations, e.g. the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland. See Article X, paragraph 2. 8 'The Commission shall invite any Member of the United Nations not a member of the Commission to participate in a consultative capacity in its consideration of any matter of parti- cular concern to that non-Member.'

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