The analysis of the RA legislation allows us to conclude that the legislative field in the field of arbitration is in accordance with the international agreements of the Republic of Armenia and is largely in line with the best international experience in this field.
Most of the surveyed specialists are of the opinion that the problems related to the development of arbitration in Armenia arise not so much from the legislative as from practical problems.
It appears that the most significant issue concerns the approach taken by the RA courts in challenging the validity of arbitration agreements, namely that the examination of claims to declare an agreement invalid is exclusively under the court’s jurisdiction.
The lack of mechanisms, criteria and guidelines for revealing the conflict of interests of arbitrators is a big problem in Armenia. Although, according to the law, each institution must have its own rules of conduct for arbitrators, in a small market like Armenia, where there is a high probability that the arbitrator examining the case and the party's representative will have a conflict of interest, more stringent and legislative solutions are needed.
It is necessary to work with judges (using trainings, round table discussions and other similar tools), so that they will avoid, within the scope of the application review, to examine the issues which are outside the scope of the Court's grounds for annulment of the arbitration award according to the Arbitration Law.
Regulation of the mediation process in Armenia is governed by the 2018 RA Law on “Mediation” and the RA Civil Procedure Code of the same year. Although both legal acts contain important provisions, there are a number of significant legal and practical issues in the field of mediation which can be a significant obstacle to the development of the institute of mediation in Armenia.
The legislation does not clearly regulate the issues related to the compulsory execution of the agreement concluded as a result of mediation.
The register of licensed mediators is posted on the website of the Ministry of Justice, but the procedure for registering their workload and specialization has not been established yet. There are no clear procedures for how a judge selects and appoints a mediator.
The self-regulatory organization of mediators needs support in organizing trainings, including the involvement of specialists with international experience.
