Qualification in international arbitration

In this study, the role of qualification, which is considered one of the fundamental problems of private international law, in international arbitration is examined. It has been discussed whether the traditional qualification theories of the conflict of laws are applicable for arbitral tribunals which do not have lex fori. The governing law, importance and consequences of the qualification that the arbitral tribunal will make at different stages of the arbitration proceedings have been revealed. Thus, the issues that will be subject to qualification in arbitration proceedings have been determined. The arbitral tribunal, when making qualification, should take into account transnational concepts appropriate to the nature of international arbitration, which it will obtain through comparative law analysis. The main distinction made by the arbitral tribunal in terms of procedure and substance has different consequences affecting the arbitration proceedings. In international arbitration, jurisdiction and admissibility issues and different aspects of arbitration agreement (substantive and formal validity, capacity and arbitrability) are other subjects where qualification plays an important role. The different approaches followed by arbitral tribunals when qualifying these issues sometimes lead to contradictory results in similar cases.