Chapter 2 emphasizes the importance of arbitration agreements, their separability from the main contract, and the need for clarity and validity to ensure enforceability of an arbitration award. It also highlights ongoing efforts to modernize and harmonize the interpretation and enforcement of arbitration agreements through international conventions and model laws. First, it discusses the general characteristics of the arbitration clause. Second, it discusses the concept of separability which allows the arbitration clause to remain valid and enforceable even if the main contract is potentially invalid. Third, it discusses the issue of validity of the arbitration agreement and the fact that different courts interpret the requirements for valid arbitration agreement differently, leading to a non-uniform application of the New York Convention. To address this, UNCITRAL has made recommendation for more flexible interpretationd and has revised provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Arbitration to promote harmonization in the interpretation and enforcement of arbitration agreements.

This Chapter is concerned with the concept of consent in international arbitration, and in particular with the various forms that consent can take to accommodate contemporary business transactions. The focus of the Chapter is on non-signatories or third parties in international arbitration, namely parties who are implicated in the commercial side of the underlying transaction but are not formal parties to an arbitration agreement. The Chapter challenges the efficacy and coherence of the existing arbitration law in this area, and questions whether the traditional concept of consent for arbitration can be reconciled with complex commercial reality and non-signatory parties today.