Making Ethiopia Arbitration Friendly: Appraisal of the 2021 Arbitration Law
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Date
2022-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The place of arbitration as a suitable forum for Commercial dispute resolution has acquired
prominence before the arbitration community. Attributed to its venerable virtues of
flexibility, relative certainty, promptness, and efficiency, commercial arbitration offers the
best commercial dispute resolution regime. Arbitration as a consensual out-of-court dispute
resolution mechanism has also played an equivalent role in the settlement of plethoras of civil
matters in addition to commercial discourses. To harvest all the benefits of arbitration,
nation-states are in a stiff competition in the journey of becoming a reputed arbitration friendly seat. Ensuring the right legal environment is an inescapable condition in this journey.
Ethiopia is labeled as countries with under developed tradition of arbitration due to legal and
institutional plights encircling the institution of arbitration. The Ethiopian arbitration regime
as it is regulated by the Civil Code and Civil Procedure Code was signposted as a reason for
under developed tradition of arbitration in the country. To linkup the truck of arbitration friendly systems, Ethiopia has recently introduced its new arbitration law in the year 2021.
Now, everyone‟s eye is on this law expecting its impact in making Ethiopia a hub of
commercial arbitration. With the grand objective of assessing the role of the new Ethiopian
arbitration law in making Ethiopia an arbitration-friendly seat, this paper has examined the
progresses of and challenges posed by the new law in light of rudimentary and contemporary
rules and principles of arbitration. The paper finds that Ethiopia has stepped an inch toward
arbitration friendliness through the ordinance of the new law with critical concerns yet to be
improved.