Introduction

6.01 Civil-law jurisdictions have historically made great use of court-appointed experts. One may further observe that in the practice of international arbitration such procedures are permitted as well,1 and are more generally accepted as part of international judicial procedure.2 This method of adducing evidence is inquisitorial in nature as it is carried out at the direction of the tribunal, and not the parties.3 In this respect, the tribunal-appointed expert is an individual who advises the tribunal through the creation of a report, and perhaps also through oral testimony that is entered into the evidentiary record of the arbitration. The process of appointing an expert poses several issues for consideration, in particular the manner of appointment and the instructions to the expert, the means and method of compiling a report, and the extent to which the expert’s findings may be adopted by the tribunal.