AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPETENCE-COMPETENCE IN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION

Abstract

The  principle  of  competence-competenceseeks  toaddressthe  question,who determines the jurisdiction  of  the  arbitral  tribunal?  The  issues  surrounding  the  authority  of  the  arbitral tribunal to rule on any objection made to its jurisdiction raisesamong other thingsquestion as tothe competence  of  the  arbitral  tribunal  todetermine  its  own  jurisdiction.  This  articleprovides  a  comparative  reviewof  jurisdictional  approaches  to  the  authority  of  the  arbitral tribunal to rule on its own jurisdiction.Competence-competence is a fundamental principle of the  modern  law  of  Arbitration  which  states  that  anarbitral  tribunal  is  competence  to  decide its  own  competence  in  other  words,  the  tribunal  has  the  jurisdiction  to  decide  its  own jurisdiction.  The  doctrine  of  competence-competence  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  pillars sustaining international arbitration some scholars are of the view that International arbitration could  not  have  developed  as  much  as  it  ha  if  this  principle  were  not  considered  a  true doctrine.  The  research  method  employed  in  this  work  included  analytic  and  comparative methods of research.