Finland as a Venue for Institutional Commercial Arbitration

Dr. Lauri Railas,

Attorney-at-Law, Railas Attorneys Ltd.

The purpose of this article is to give a general picture on the legal framework for institutional commercial arbitration taking place in Finland and relating to trade disputes between companies coming from different countries. The focus is on arbitrations between Finnish and Russian undertakings, but similar issues apply in arbitrations between parties regarding a dispute that has no relationship at all with the place of arbitration, and in which Finland is used as a neutral venue for proceedings, e.g., between a Russian and a third country undertaking. The article also addresses aspects that are the most frequently asked questions for parties in dispute settlement, namely the length and costs of arbitration. These matters have been expressly addressed in the revision of the 2013 Arbitration Rules of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FCC), and this article gives considerable attention to the revised Rules.