Absence of an Arbitration Agreement before a Dispute Arises
Absence of an Arbitration Agreement before a Dispute Arises
Can the parties to a dispute refer to arbitration if they fail to reach an arbitration agreement before the dispute arises?
The answer is yes.
It makes no difference whether an arbitration agreement is reached before or after a dispute arises. An arbitration agreement is required when the parties submit their disputes to arbitration. That means, they can reach an arbitration agreement at any time before referring to arbitration. And even when an existing arbitration agreement is held invalid, they can reach a new arbitration agreement and refer to arbitration. And they can also alter an existing arbitration agreement before referring to arbitration, such as replace the selected arbitration institute/commission, the seat of arbitration, etc.
Robert Zhang 
Steve Li 