Validity of arbitration agreements

Arbitration requires existence of a valid arbitration agreement between parties. In order to execute a valid arbitration agreement, parties need to comply with certain requirements. While some of these requirements relate to formal validity, some others relate to substantive validity. Moreover capacity to enter into an arbitration agreement can also be identified as a requirement as to validity. Written form is generally accepted to be the right form of an arbitration agreement. However in international arbitration the meaning of written form varies. Consent to arbitration is required for substantive validity. On the other hand there are important amount of discussion as to the grounds for invalidating the consent or as to the scope of such consent.