aware, no WTO panel or Appellate: Body had accepted for consideration an unsolicited amicus brief. Briefs had been filed in each case, but the WTO Panel or Appellate Body had always determined that these briefs should not be considered. And the power under Article 13 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding to seek information from outside sources had not been used in this respect. Further, in the order of 16tb November 2000 in European Communities – Measures Affecting Asbestos and Asbestos Containing Products, all seventeen applications for amicus status were rejected by the WTO.

The Tribunal Ruled That Article 15(1) UNICTRAL arbitration Rules are intended to provide the broadest procedural flexibility within fundamental safeguards, to be applied by the arbitration tribunal to fit the particular needs of the particular arbitration. As a procedural provision, however, it cannot grant the tribunal any power to add further disputing parties to the arbitration, nor to accord to persons who are non-parties the substantive status, rights or privileges of a Disputing Party. Likewise, the Tribunal can have no power to accord to any third person the substantive rights of NAFTA Parties under Article 1128 of N AFTA. The issue is whether Article 15(1) grants the Tribunal any lesser procedural power in regard to non- party third persons, such as the Petitioners.

In addressing this issue, there are four principal matters to be considered:

• Whether the Tribunal’s acceptance of amicus submissions falls within the general scope of Article 15(l)(2)
• If so, whether the acceptance of amicus submissions could affect the equal treatment of the Disputing Parties and the opportunity of each fully to present its case, under Article 15(l) (2)
• Whether there are any provisions in Chapter 11, Section B, of NAFTA that modify the application of Article 15(1) for present purposes: and
• Whether other provisions of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules likewise modify the application of Article 15( 1) in regard to this particular case, given the introductory words of the sub-paragraph numbered [1] of Article 15(1).

The culture of the international arbitration community, which seems accurately described as commercially oriented. As Tienhaara notes, arbitrators tend to be experts in commercial law and do not, as a general rule, have much (if any) experience with environmental law
On amicus participation the tribunal had a lot of insight:

The tribunal stated that if it is not allowed to add another person as party to the dispute without seeking consent from the parties, it is equally precluded from solving the substantive dispute by exercising power over the arbitration. They also ruled that the third party does not acquire the rights