ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ambitions behind Mercado Comun del Cono Sur (MERCOSUR's) attempts to harmonise arbitration mechanisms in the region in light of the individual laws and conventions already in force in the Member and Associate States. It focuses on Argentina and Brazil. The arbitration-related ambitions of MERCOSUR can be split into two strands: the harmonisation of international commercial arbitration within MERCOSUR; and the establishment of effective mechanisms by means of which foreign investors can arbitrate claims against MERCOSUR Member States. The chapter provides a brief overview of the approach adopted by the individual Member and Associate States in their movement towards modernising their own national arbitration laws and arbitration practice; and implementing important international arbitration conventions. It also focuses on the approaches to arbitration adopted by Argentina and Brazil, the largest of the Member and Associate States. The need for some order in the overlapping arbitration mechanisms becomes painfully obvious when a potential real-life scenario is analysed.
