A fundamental principle of arbitration is that the arbitral tribunal acts fairly and impartially in arriving at its award. But should this mean that an arbitrator should be at risk of criminal prosecution and imprisonment? That is the (possible) consequence of a recent change to the UAE Penal Code, a situation we address in this article.

The fundamental principle has become widely recognised and entrenched in legislation and in many institutional arbitration rules. Not only is fairness and impartiality expressly required, but just as importantly a mechanism is provided to identify issues and also address breaches of the fundamental principle. For example:

• The Dubai International Financial Centre's Arbitration Law of 2008 provides in Article 18*^[1] that a person approached to be an arbitrator must disclose any circumstances likely to give rise to justifiable doubts as to their impartiality or independence (this is a continuing obligation). Article 19 sets out the challenge procedure.