NEWSLETTER-2017

161 ARBITRATION LAW tion agreement, it is perfectly possible that in other cases, the latter, because of its autonomy, is governed - not only as to its scope, but also as to its effects - by its own specific sources of law, distinct from those that govern the merits of the dispute ” 9 . Two approaches stand out in determination of law applicable to the arbitration agreement separately from the underlying contract. The first approach represents that the law of the seat of arbitration should apply to the arbitration agreement, while the second approach accepts the principle of direct applicability of national law or international principles as the law applicable to the arbitration agreement. Despite some differences amongst them, the second approach is adopted by the laws of Switzerland, Turkey and France. Application of the Law of the Seat of Arbitration in the Arbitration Agreement By default of a choice of law by the parties regarding the law applicable to the arbitration agreement, the most common method is to apply the law of the seat of arbitration to the arbitration agreement, since the law of the seat of arbitration is accepted as the most proper law of the arbitration agreement. This approach is expressed in a de- cision dated 28 June 2007 of the Commercial Court of England as follows 10 : “ The question then arises whether, if there is no express law of the arbitration agreement, the law with which that agreement has its closest and most real connection is the law of the underlying contract or the law of the seat of arbitration. It seems to me that if (…) this is a relevant question, the answer is more likely to be the law of the seat of arbitration than the law of the underlying contract. ” In England, The High Court of Justice decided in its Sulamérica decision in 2012 that the law of the seat of arbitration is the law ap- 9 Please see: Dow Chemical France et al. v. Isover Saint Goben award of the ICC dated 23 September 1982 and numbered 4131, IX YBCA 1982, p. 131 et seq. For similar ICC awards please see: ICC Award no. 13921, Collection VI, p. 795 et seq.; ICC Award no. 4504, Collection II, p. 279 et seq.; ICC Award no. 5730, Collection II, p. 410 et seq. 10 Please see: XXXIII YBCA 2008, p. 752-778.