In our country, our judicial justice system has highlighted the importance of implementing new forms or procedures that serve as means of dispute resolution or conflict. These new methods are called “alternative dispute resolution means.”
Arbitration is precisely one of those alternative means of dispute resolution, through which the parties, by mutual agreement, undertake to validate and settle their differences through a third party that is impartial to their conflict, this third impartial he is known as an arbitrator. The arbitrator collaborates with the parties, so that they can agree on a solution to the conflict through mediation.
At present, it is sought that the resolution of conflicts is a process that is more beneficial for the parties considering that there is a mutual agreement between them, but that it is also a more agile process, and it is this last characteristic that leads us to propose that said arbitration may be carried out through electronic means.
The fact that the arbitration is carried out through electronic means represents some advantages and disadvantages in the procedure. Among the advantages that are identified, we can mention the following:
- Carrying out the procedure through electronic means allows the parties to present their claims in a more practical way for them.
- Some additional expenses are eliminated, since the parties can participate actively from a distance without having to physically move.
- The procedure is carried out in a secure and confidential way, since when carried out through electronic means various security mechanisms can be used, such as the use of digital signatures, the use of passwords or data encryption.
Among the disadvantages, we can identify the following:
- Being a relatively recent procedure, there are some assumptions that are not yet provided for in established rules or principles.
- Some barriers still have to be overcome, mainly in regard to the lack of transparency or even the credibility of carrying out this procedure only through electronic means.
- People’s mistrust about security and the way in which confidential information is shared through technological means also has to be overcome. In the same way, most people prefer to carry out their procedure in a conventional way since many times they are unaware of the possibility of carrying out their procedure through other means.
The current situation derived from the pandemic has highlighted the importance and especially the usefulness of arbitration through electronic means, identifying it as one of the most viable forms of conflict resolution.
Melissa Sánchez
Gloria Ponce de León & Hernández
