DIS Meets Ciarb: What Makes a Successful Arbitration Hub?

16 April 2026, Amsterdam

Jennifer Bryant and Phillip Landolt opened the evening by introducing DIS and Ciarb. This year’s “DIS meets Ciarb” event complemented the “Ciarb meets DIS” event in Frankfurt last November, which focused on bullet-proved award drafting.

Siegfried Elsing used his keynote address to emphasise that party autonomy in arbitration fosters competition, suggesting that success factors may differ from those commonly discussed. He also questioned buzzwords such as 'modern', 'innovative' and 'efficient'. Instead, he suggested focusing on harmoniously integrating legal, international, economic, political and cultural factors when picking a hub.

The subsequent discussion then unfolded across four substantive panels:

• Arbitration Law Reform
  Arno Gildemeister and Rogier Schellaars, under moderation by Karl Pörnbacher, discussed the unique features of Dutch arbitration law and pending arbitration law reforms in France and Germany, saying both reform proposals were welcome updates.
   
• Arbitration Matters before Commercial Courts
  Patrick Melin and Martin Vaessen introduced the commercial courts of Amsterdam and Stuttgart and explained their procedural features. The option to assign arbitration matters to commercial courts, as set out in the current German reform bill, was considered valuable. Some commercial courts in Germany, including those in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, already have arbitration matters decided by judges who also sit as a commercial court senate. The session was moderated by Hartmut Hamann.
   
• Arbitration‑friendliness of the Courts
  Alexandra Schluep and Reinmar Wolff, moderated by Anna Masser, discussed what makes an arbitration-friendly court (the recognition of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism equivalent to state courts) and whether, based on empirical figures, German and Dutch courts are arbitration-friendly (they are). The panel also discussed how setting-aside courts should remand cases to the arbitral tribunal, and how ECJ case law influences arbitration-friendliness.
   
• Settlement and Efficiency

The final panel, moderated by Natalia Gulyaeva, discussed settlement facilitation in arbitration (a unique feature under the DIS Rules) and the reservations it faces, particularly from a common law perspective.

We thank all speakers, moderators, and attendees for making this event a truly insightful and forward‑looking discussion!

Reinmar Wolff
 

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