Interaction between international commercial arbitration and EU law before the award is rendered

For decades international arbitration and European Union law (‘EU law’) managed to develop independently. It has been largely so, because of the success of the New York Convention and decisions made on the European level not to interfere with the international (commercial) arbitration regime. In recent years, however, the amount of interaction has proliferated. The purpose of this contribution is to flag these instances where EU law is of relevance at the context of international arbitration. The arbitral tribunals should be mindful of the fact in what occasions EU law is relevant, both at the jurisdictional as well as at the merits phase. Contributions further in this book might offer an invaluable guidance in this process by providing directions and identifying pitfalls one can face when applying EU law in international commercial arbitration.