Article 5 of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration Statute

This article lays down two guarantees of independence, which are among the most reassuring for the parties to a dispute:

1. Independence of the Center from the Council of Chambers: the members of the Center's board of directors and its staff are independent of the Council of Chambers and the Chambers in carrying out their work, and do not receive from them any instructions relating to their performance of their work. This matters because the Council of Chambers contributes to supporting and marketing the Center's services under Article 4, so this text prevents support from turning into direction.

2. Independence of the arbitral tribunal from the board of directors: the arbitral tribunal, that is, the sole arbitrator or the panel of arbitrators under Article 1, is independent of the Center's board of directors in carrying out its work in administering the proceedings of the cases being heard, and receives from it no instructions relating to its performance of its work in those cases.

The practical meaning is that the Center's board of directors cannot direct the arbitrators in a particular dispute. The decision in the case belongs to the arbitral tribunal alone.

Note that the second paragraph limits the independence of the arbitral tribunal to its relationship with the board of directors in the cases being heard. A person who has concerns about the impartiality of an arbitral tribunal in a pending dispute is advised to consult a lawyer specialized in commercial cases.