Bénédicte FAUVARQUE-COSSON - Professor (université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas)
Ali BENCHENEB - Professor (université de Bourgogne)
Thomas CLAY - Professor (université de Versailles)
Georges KHAIRALLAH - Professor (université Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas)
Philippe LEBOULANGER - Teacher & Lawyer at Paris Bar
International commercial arbitration is the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) the most used in the world. This Which contributes in particular to make the main actor of the diffusion of a-national rules as the general principles of law, usages of international trade, or the lex mercatoria, often chosen by the arbitrators as the law applicable to the substantive of the dispute. This choice was extended to the new rules developed by private international institutions such as the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. A doctrinal codification conceived as a soft law instrument, which is increasingly applied in arbitration practice. Our study shows, however, that few awards rendered in cases in which one of the parties is Arabic made a reference to UNIDROIT Principles. The explanation is not to look for in an incompatibility between them and contract law in Arab countries but in the ignorance of this doctrinal codification by Arab jurists and lawyers. Added to this, a feeling of distrust a manifestation of soft law. It is therefore necessary to consider the ways in which the UNIDROIT Principles to find their place in the law and practice of the Arab countries.