ABSTRACT
The validity of arbitration agreements is of great importance to the arbitral process and also one of the crucial requirements to enforce arbitral awards afterwards. In the absence of specific rules and law regulating the validity of arbitration agreements concluded via electronic communications, relevant rules and law concerning the validity of electronic contracts may be transplanted into the interpretation of the validity of online arbitration agreements or clauses. With regard to pre-dispute consumer arbitration clauses or agreements that are displayed on a website, their validity is debatable. This can be learnt from previous experience concerning the validity of contractual terms and conditions displayed on an online marketplace. There are two categories for the determination of a valid international commercial arbitration agreement: one is formal validity and the other is substantive validity. In the UK, there is a distinction between private arbitration and public/statutory arbitration.
