国际海事仲裁中的缺员仲裁

针对当前国际海事仲裁界面临的缺员仲裁庭问题，从“缺员仲裁庭”问题之由来，各国对“缺员仲裁庭”裁决的承认和执行情况，中国对“缺员仲裁庭”问题的规定，国际商事仲裁规则及外国法对“缺员仲裁庭”问题处理的借鉴等4方面进行阐述，指出缺员仲裁庭是否重新指定替代仲裁员需视仲裁阶段而定：若缺员仲裁发生在仲裁活动早期，那么应当依据适用的仲裁规则的规定尽速替换仲裁员，组成新的仲裁庭审理；若缺员仲裁发生在仲裁活动（包括书面审理）结束后，则可由缺员仲裁庭自行决定如何处理，包括决定是否重新指定替代仲裁员和是否需要重新审理案件.

Truncated tribunal in international maritime arbitration

Truncated tribunal has increasingly become a new topic in the international maritime arbitration field. How to proceed when one arbitrator is unable to attend all subsequent trial due to some reason after the arbitral tribunal establishment? Appointing a substitute arbitrator in accordance with the arbitration rules and restarting the arbitration thereafter, which will be inconsistent with the efficiency as well as economic purpose of the commercial arbitration; while leaving the truncated arbitral tribunal to proceed at their discretion until making the final award, which will bring a debate on how to protect the arbitral interest of the disputed parties, in particular, such arbitral procedure triggers the risk of being considered as illegal. This article focuses on the truncated arbitral tribunal issue, arrives at the conclusion that whether the substituted arbitrator needs to be appointed or not will mainly depend on the specific stage of arbitral proceedings. Namely, in the event that the truncated arbitral tribunal occurs at the outset of arbitral proceeding, it is necessary to appoint the substituted arbitrator as per the agreed arbitration rules; whereas it occurs at the point when arbitral proceeding almost completes (including the documentary trial), then it is unnecessary to appoint the substituted arbitrator and leave the truncated tribunal to make the decision, including whether to substitute the arbitrator, whether to restart the whole arbitration proceeding or not.