Can an arbitrator settle a dispute for his relatives?

Legal situation: Dear sir or madam, please advise me on the following matter:

I know that in court proceedings, judges are not allowed to resolve disputes related to their relatives. But what about arbitration, are arbitrators allowed to resolve disputes for there relatives? I look forward to your advice, many thanks!

Response:

Thank you for trusting and sending your questions to FDVN Law Firm (“FDVN”), after studying the legal regulations, FDVN would like to provide you with some information as follows:

 In Article 42 of the Commercial Arbitration Law 2010, there are provisions on cases where an arbitrator shall refuse to settle a dispute and the parties may request change of an arbitrator to settle the dispute as  follows:

“a/ The arbitrator is next of kin or a representative of one party:

b/ The arbitrator has an interest related to the dispute;

c/ There is a clear ground to conclude that the arbitrator is neither impartial nor objective;

d/ The arbitrator was a conciliator, representative or lawyer of one party before the dispute is brought to arbitration for settlement. unless such is consented in writing by the parties.”

In particular, “Next of kin” defined by Clause 19, Article 3 of the Law on Marriage and Family2014, include people with marriage relation or raising relation, people of the same direct blood line and relatives within three generations. People of the same direct blood line are those in the consanguineous relationship in which a person gives birth to another in a successive order. Relatives within three generations are people born of the same stock with parents constituting the first generation; full siblings, paternal half-siblings and maternal half-siblings constituting the second generation; and children of paternal aunts, maternal aunts, paternal uncles, maternal uncles constituting the third generation. If the arbitrator is a relative of a party in one of the above cases, the arbitrator must refuse to resolve the dispute or the parties request changes.

If an arbitrator settles a dispute where he is a relative to a party therein, he will be subject to an administrative penalty with a fine of between VND 10,000,000 and VND 20,000,000; If an organization violates this provision, it will be fined twice the above penalty level as prescribed in Point a, Clause 1, Article 27 and Clause 4, Article 4 of Decree 82/2020/ND-CP.

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