Alberto Malatesta

The Yearbook of the ILA Italian Branch aims to disseminate the work of the ILA Italian Branch and its associates, in particular the latter's contribution within ILA Committees and Study Groups, and to discuss topical issues in contemporary international law. To this end, the Yearbook features original, peer-reviewed contributions on a wide range of topics, reports on the work of ILA Committees and Study Groups, analyses of judicial and arbitral practice and book reviews.

The essays studies which role is played by domestic courts in the field of international commercial arbitration, traditionally covered and ruled by the will of the parties. Three aspects are especially considered. i) the various cases of judicial assistance and support; ii) the assessment of the validity of the arbitration agreement and the possible conflicts between arbitral tribunals and national judges; iii) the control of the award in the annullment procedure and in the recognition and enforcement stage, with particular reference to the public policy defence.

Confidentiality has been traditionally considered as an implicit obligation arising out of an arbitration agreement. In the last years, however, transparency gained more and more importance, so that the two principles now coexist and must be carefully balanced. In the light of the practice of the main arbitral institutions, at least in two fields a significant development in favor of transparency can be noted: i) the required standards of neutrality and impartiality upon the arbitrators; ii) the publication of the awards. With regard to the duties of confidentiality properly said, the picture is instead far from being settled as their ground and scope is very debated in various jurisdictions. The Author's submission is that, in absence of specific legal or contractual provisions addressing the issue, a distinction must be made between domestic and international commercial arbitration. while the former is subject to the relevant characters of the national systems, the latter, given its own features, should be in principle recognised as confidential proceedings. Finally, the law applicable to confidentiality is faced by proposing the applicability in principle of the lex arbitri.