Arbitration

Statistics

Caseloads

Among the 74 arbitration cases filed with the JCAA from 2018 to 2022, 86% were international cases involving one or more non-Japanese companies or Japan-based foreign subsidiaries.

From 2019 to 2022, 1 arbitration case was filed under the Interactive Arbitration Rules. During the same period, 5 applications for emergency arbitration were filed with the JCAA, and 16 cases were conducted under the expedited arbitration procedures.

Year Number of Cases
2018 13
2019 9
2020 18
2021 15
2022 19

Nationality of Parties

Over the past five years, parties to JCAA arbitrations were from 23 countries and regions. China, South Korea, USA, Taiwan and Vietnam represent the top five jurisdictions in which international parties to JCAA arbitrations hail from.

Graph:Nationality of Parties

Graph:Nationality of Parties
Claimant Respondent Total
Americas
1 British Virgin Islands 1 0 1
2 Chile 0 2 2
3 USA 5 4 9
Asia & Pacific
4 China* 8 15 23
5 India 1 0 1
6 Indonesia 0 1 1
7 Japan 51 44 95
8 Jordan 0 1 1
9 Laos 0 1 1
10 Lebanon 1 1 2
11 Malaysia 1 1 2
12 Singapore 1 0 1
13 South Korea 2 11 13
14 Taiwan 0 5 5
15 Thailand 0 1 1
16 United Arab Emirates 2 2 4
17 Vietnam 1 4 5
Europe
18 Cyprus 1 0 1
19 Germany 0 1 1
20 Italy 1 1 2
21 Luxembourg 0 1 1
22 Netherlands 1 0 1
23 United Kingdom 0 1 1

*15 (Claimant: 3, Respondent: 12) in Mainland China, 8 (Claimant: 5, Respondent: 3) in Hong Kong

Nationality of Arbitrators and Emergency Arbitrators

Out of 96 arbitrators appointed in JCAA-administered international arbitrations from 2018 to 2022, 38% were non-Japanese nationals from, inter alia:

USA, Singapore, Australia, Austria, United Kingdom, China, France, India, Canada, South Korea, Germany and Philippines (12 countries and regions)

Out of the 5 emergency arbitrators appointed after 2019, 4 were non-Japanese (Australia, United Kingdom and Taiwan) and 1 was Japanese.

Graph:Nationality of Arbitrators

Languages

As for the language used in international cases filed with JCAA from 2018 to 2022, 41% were conducted in English. JCAA also handles arbitration conducted in Chinese.

Graph:Languages

Amounts in Dispute

JCAA handles a very wide range of disputes. Out of the arbitration cases concluded between 2013 and 2022, 59% cases were with amount in dispute of less than USD2.3 million (JPY 300 million), and 27% were with amount in dispute of less than USD385,000 (JPY 50 million). The lowest dispute amount was USD 13,000 (JPY 1,7 million).

On the other hand, JCAA has handled many complex cases with dispute amounts exceeding USD 7.7 million(JPY 10 billion), including the highest dispute amount of USD 5.9 billion(JPY 770 billion).

*At a currency exchange rate of JPY 130 per USD 1.

Amounts in Dispute

Duration

Over the past decade, the average length of JCAA proceedings was 12.9 months (from the constitution date of arbitral tribunal to the rendering of final award).

Duration

In 32% of cases concluded from 2018 to 2022, the cases were withdrawn on the grounds of settlement between the parties or for other reasons. In 9% of these cases, the tribunal issued consent awards.

Duration

Recognition and Enforcement of JCAA arbitral awards

As far as the JCAA recognizes, 90% of disputes have been resolved in accordance with arbitral awards. Since 2010, JCAA has not acknowledged any cases where the foreign courts refused the enforcement of the JCAA awards.

Recognition and Enforcement of JCAA arbitral awards

Using Online technology

Hearings and conferences are held using online technology in most of the JCAA arbitration cases. Particularly in 2022, full or semi-remote way represented 90%.

Using Online technology