The Shortfalls of Iran's Code of Civil Procedure in Issuing Interim Orders by the Arbitrator

One of the most important issues which has long been considered as a shortfall in the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) is the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal to issue interim orders. Currently، neither the court nor the arbitral tribunal can freely grant the interim measure so that the tribunals and the court hardly accept the plea for granting the interim measure. The reason lies in the shortfalls of the law as the courts’ interpretation of Article 311 of CPC is that only the court receiving the case at the first place can grant such interim order as the issuance of interim orders requires specific authorization by the law. Such opinion is more emphasized when the parties to the dispute fail to clearly grant such authorization to the arbitrators. However، granting the right to arbitrators to issue interim orders is needed in for a sound arbitral proceedings. The present paper tries to clarify which authority has the jurisdiction to deal with urgent cases and issue interim orders in arbitral proceedings: the arbitral tribunal or the court or both? This paper also examines how it would be possible for arbitral tribunal to enforce an interim order. Finally، the consequences of the gap in the CPC on the issue of issuing interim orders by arbitral tribunal will be discussed.