In short the procedure for emergency arbitration is as follows. After an application by a party for emergency arbitration, an emergency arbitrator is appointed by the President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration within two days.2 The parties have three days to challenge the appointed emergency arbitrator.3 After appointment, the emergency arbitrator has 15 days to deliver an order.4 The cost of emergency arbitration is a fixed US$ 40,000.5 In addition, that the party requesting an emergency arbitrator must file a request for arbitration within 10 days of the Secretariat’s receipt of the request for emergency arbitration.6

The purpose for the assistance of an emergency arbitrator is to provide the parties with the possibility to have such a temporary and binding decision, with the emphasis on “temporary”. However, as the final—and subsequent—arbitration award will have a general impact on the contractual relationship as a whole, on the basis of the project in general, one might question the role of an emergency arbitrator in international construction disputes. One might also question the effectiveness of the rendered decision and question whether the overall goal is achieved by the rules.

With the focus on disputes in international construction projects, this article will discuss potential legal and procedural problems on specific issues and the limitations in the use of an emergency arbitrator in construction disputes.