Global and Diverse Arbitrator Candidates

• JCAA has a database of more than 400 candidates, including the world's most distinguished foreign arbitrators. Approximately two-thirds of the candidates are non-Japanese, representing more than 50 different nationalities.
• When a party appoints an arbitrator, upon request, JCAA will share several independent and suitable candidates for arbitrator on a case-by-case basis.
• When JCAA appoints an arbitrator, JCAA will send to the parties a list of arbitrator candidates specifically selected for the case and will appoint the appropriate arbitrator, considering the ranking given by the parties.

Expansion of cases in which registered foreign lawyers and foreign lawyers may represent their clients

The 2020 amendment to the Foreign Lawyers Act in Japan expands the scope of "international arbitration cases" in which registered foreign lawyers and foreign lawyers can represent parties. This amendment expands the options for parties to select registered foreign lawyers and foreign lawyers. Specifically, cases that satisfy any one of the following three conditions fall under this category (foreign lawyers not registered in Japan must separately satisfy the conditions stipulated in Article 98 of the Foreign Lawyers Act).

• One of the parties has certain foreign connections (Article 2 (xi) of Foreign lawyers Act), such as
  • one or more of the parties have an registered address in a foreign jurisdiction; or
  • A company who has an registered address in a foreign jurisdiction holds more than fifty percent of the number of issued shares (limited to voting shares) in one of the parties.
• The governing law agreed by the parties is foreign law; or
• The place of arbitration is in a foreign country.

Ministry of Justice reference URL:
001331477.pdf (moj.go.jp) and https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3584

Expedited Arbitration Procedures （Final award within minimum three months from the date when the arbitral tribunal is constituted）

Under the JCAA Commercial Arbitration Rules/Interactive Arbitration Rules (revised in 2021), an arbitral award will, in principle, be rendered within six months from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal for the cases whose amount in dispute is JPY 300 million or less, and within three months from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunalfor the cases whose amount in dispute is JPY 50 million or less.

Under the expedited arbitration procedures, the number of arbitrators shall be one and the arbitral tribunal shall in principle conduct the arbitral proceedings on a document only basis, which reduce the cost burden on the parties.

Results:
For cases involving disputes of JPY 50 million or less, among the seven cases filed between 2019 and 2023 and resolved through arbitration awards by the end of 2023, five were concluded within three months of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. Among the remaining three cases, one extended the award deadline by approximately one and a half months based on mutual agreement of the parties, while in the other two cases, the tribunal extended the deadline by two weeks in accordance with the 2019 JCAA Rules due to necessary suspension of proceedings, and the JCAA extended the deadline by two weeks under the 2021 JCAA Rules due to exceptional circumstances, respectively.

For cases involving disputes between JPY 50 million and JPY 300 million, of the seven cases filed post the 2021 rule revision and concluded with arbitration awards by the end of 2023, four were resolved within six months. The remaining three cases concluded with extensions ranging from approximately one to three months, as agreed upon by the parties due to exceptional circumstances or other reasons.

For the average duration, please see our Statistics.

Emergency arbitration

A party can make an application to the JCAA for the appointment of an emergency arbitrator if an urgent and provisional order（Emergency Measures）is required before the arbitral tribunal is constituted. JCAA will in principle appoint an emergency arbitrator within two business days from its receipt of the application for Emergency Measures. The emergency arbitrator will in principle decide on the Emergency Measures within two weeks from his or her appointment.

Results:
From 2019 to 2023, JCAA received 5 applications for emergency arbitration. 3 out of 5 applications concluded with the emergency arbitrator’s decision within 2 weeks from his or her appointment. The remaining 2 applications were withdrawn after the appointment of emergency arbitrator.

Three Options for Arbitration Rules

JCAA Arbitration allows you to choose one of three different rules for arbitral proceeding and calculating fees.

Especially, under Interactive Arbitration Rules, the original JCAA rules, the arbitral tribunal will actively manage the case to increase the predictability and efficiency of the case. The tribunal will proactively identify and narrow down key issues, and then present non-binding and preliminary views on material factual and legal issues before an evidentiary hearing.

This step-by-step interaction between the parties and the arbitral tribunal has several procedural advantages such as:

• The parties have a chance to spot out anything unclear to the tribunal and the tribunal’s misunderstanding, if any, of the parties’ positions and respond to them.
• The parties have an opportunity to tailor their subsequent argument and witness examination responding to the tribunal’s preliminary understanding of the case.
• The parties may use the tribunal’s preliminary views to facilitate the settlement discussion where appropriate.

Fixed rate of arbitrator’s remuneration based on the amount of the dispute maximize the predictability of the arbitration costs.

The recent case under Interactive Arbitration Rules proceeded as follows.

For more information on the three arbitration rules of the JCAA, see Arbitration Rules | JCAA.

Online Hearings

JCAA is flexible to accommodate the various needs of the parties in holding online meetings. Upon request, JCAA will arrange interpreters and court reporters as in a regular face-to-face meeting.

Meetings (including witness hearings) are held using online technology in a large number of arbitration cases under the JCAA rules. The percentage of online meetings has increased rapidly due to the pandemic. In 2023, 56 percent of meetings has been held using online technologies (of which about 46% was fully remote), which has improved the efficiency of proceedings, including reducing travel costs for overseas parties.

JCAA’s administrative support is highly appreciated both domestically and internationally.

Mediation during arbitration Proceedings (Arb-Med)

The JCAA also offers mediation procedures to resolve disputes through settlement discussions with the assistance of a neutral mediator. By agreement of the parties, the parties can smoothly move to mediation procedures of JCAA, not only before filing a request for arbitration, but also after filing a request for arbitration.

JCAA arbitration rules embed detailed procedural arrangements for cases where all the parties prefer to having the arbitrator also serve as mediator. This gives the parties another option to settle the dispute while paying due attention to the procedural fairness if the parties fail to settle and get back to the arbitration.

For more information about JCAA mediation, see Why Choose JCAA Mediation? | JCAA