Promoting Sri Lanka as a Seat of International Arbitration: Lessons to be Learnt from International Jurisdictions

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) refers to a range of mechanisms available for the resolution of disputes such as Negotiation, Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration, which are settlement-oriented processes, adopted in place of Litigation through Courts that are adversarial in character. Among the said alternative processes, Arbitration is popularly preferred across the globe for the resolution of commercial disputes for the numerous benefits it has to offer. This ease of facilitating international commercial contracts and dispute resolution pertaining thereto, offered by the arbitral process has made it a decisive factor for a country to sustain good international trade and commercial relations. Accordingly, Sri Lanka brought about several mechanisms over the years, procedurally and otherwise, to promote Sri Lanka as an attractive seat of arbitration. Nevertheless, despite the statutory framework, infrastructure, facilities and Arbitration-friendly atmosphere sought to be instituted, the findings from this study identified that Sri Lanka has not performed to its expectations of functioning as a hub of arbitration in South Asia. This study identifies certain loopholes through lessons learnt from other popular arbitration seats. It is recommended to improve and revamp the statutory framework providing for arbitration in Sri Lanka to overcome several anomalies discussed therein, in addition to meeting the gaps in terms of infrastructure and other facilities, to relieve the prospects of effective arbitration promoting cross-border investments in this era of advanced technology and globalization. Keywords: Commercial Disputes; ADR; Arbitration in Sri Lanka; Arbitration Seats; Issues and Reforms for the current system.