Answer ... (a) Procedure, including evidence?
If not expressly stipulated by the parties, the Arbitration Law’s default rules expressly confer the following powers on the tribunal with respect to the arbitration proceedings:
- the power to decide the seat and the dates/schedule of the proceedings (Articles 20 and 21);
- the power to request the parties to provide translations of documents related to the arbitration (Article 25); and
- the power to summon witnesses or experts to testify at a hearing, and to petition the court to order such persons to attend if they fail to show at the hearing without proper cause (Article 26).
However, since Article 19 of the Arbitration Law provides the tribunal with the discretion to apply other procedural rules if neither the parties nor the Arbitration Law has stipulated language that pertains to the situation, the actual latitude of the tribunals’ potential powers in relation to evidence may be quite broad. For example, if the tribunal believes that one party holds a key document that would establish a material fact of the arbitration, the tribunal may, on the requesting party’s petition, order that other party to produce the relevant document pursuant to Article 343 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(b) Interim relief?
Unlike the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Arbitration Law does not expressly allow tribunals to issue interim relief or render preliminary orders. However, some arbitration institutions, such as the CAA, provide for certain forms of interim relief in their rules. For example, pursuant to Article 36 of the CAA rules, a tribunal may, upon request by a party and with the consent of the other party, order the preservation of perishable goods or provide emergency secured storage to items that are at high risk of imminent damage.
(c) Parties which do not comply with its orders?
There is no mechanism in the Arbitration Law for the tribunal to compel the parties to comply with its orders. In practice, as described in question 8.7 and depending on the circumstances, where a party refuses to comply with the tribunal’s order without cause, the tribunal will refer to the Code of Civil Procedure and treat such party as absent for the relevant issue, and will likely decide that issue in the other party’s favour. For example, if the tribunal orders a party to produce a certain document pursuant to Article 343 of the Code of Civil Procedure and that party refuses to do so, the tribunal can deem the other party’s arguments in relation to the document as persuasive pursuant to Article 345, paragraph 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(d) Issuing partial final awards?
The Arbitration Law is silent on partial or interim awards. However, Article 40 of the CAA rules specifically provides that the tribunal is entitled to issue partial or interim awards.
(e) The remedies it can grant in a final award?
Other than the obvious case of a remedy that would cause a party to act in violation of the law, the Arbitration Law does not specifically limit the remedies that a tribunal may provide in the final award. Since Article 31 of the Arbitration Law requires the express consent of the parties before the tribunal can determine the final award based on the principles of equity, the tribunal cannot grant remedies based on principles of equity in the final award unless the parties have consented to this beforehand.
(f) Interest?
If requested by the parties as relief, the tribunal has the power to order a party to pay the requested interest. In the absence of a stipulated interest rate between the parties, the tribunal generally applies the statutory rate of the jurisdiction whose laws govern the substantive matters of the dispute. For Taiwan, pursuant to Article 203 of the Civil Code, the interest rate will be set at 5% annual percentage yield if no other special rules are applicable.