Costs in international arbitration

• Citation: jd0117
• Author: James Wang,BellaSkuthorp,Alexandra Pieniazek
• Date: 27 June 2018
• Published date: 27 June 2018
• Subject Matter: Dispute Resolution

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CHINA LAW INSIGHT

Costs in international arbitration

By King & Wood Mallesons on June 27, 2018

by：James Wang Alexandra Pieniazek BellaSkuthorp King & Wood Mallesons

While there is no universal approach to costs awards in international arbitration, “costs

follow the event” is the starting point for most tribunals. As demonstrated by two studies

discussed in this article, an emerging trend is to couple this approach with “adjusted”

costs orders which reflect the relative success of the parties in the arbitration and the

parties’ conduct in the arbitration. This trend makes costs allocation a potentially powerful

tool in ensuring the efficiency of proceedings.

Types of costs incurred in international

arbitration

Costs incurred in an arbitration can usually be divided into the following two categories:

costs of the arbitration, being administrative costs such as the arbitrators’ fees and

expenses, filing fees and other charges associated with the relevant arbitral

institution; and

party costs, being the costs individually incurred by each party in the course of the

arbitration, including legal fees, counsel fees, expenses relating to lay witnesses,

fees and expenses related to party-appointed experts, translation costs, document

production and travel and accommodation costs.