§ 172.108.Language

A question that only arises in international arbitration, answered in four subsections.

The parties may agree on the language or languages to be used.

Absent agreement the tribunal determines it. No default language is prescribed, even for an arbitration seated in Texas.

The choice governs three things: each written statement by a party, each hearing, and each award, decision or other communication by the tribunal.

More than one language may be chosen, which is common where the parties and the tribunal do not share a single working language.

Documentary evidence is treated separately. The tribunal may order that documentary evidence be accompanied by a translation into the selected language or languages.

That power is discretionary. Requiring full translation of a large document set is expensive, and the tribunal weighs whether it is warranted.

The language choice has real consequences for cost. Interpreters, translated exhibits and a bilingual tribunal all appear in the costs the tribunal allocates under Section 172.145.

It also affects enforcement. An award will be read by courts elsewhere, and the language it is written in shapes what those courts need.

The choice is often made in the arbitration clause. Naming a language at the drafting stage avoids a dispute about it at the outset of a case.

A tribunal determining the language weighs the practical facts — the language of the contract, of the documents, and of the witnesses who will testify.