Arbitration In Próspera: An Arbitration Utopia?

Arbitration is usually a creature of contract. Parties arbitrate because they have agreed to do so. Próspera ZEDE departs from that model by embedding arbitration into its legal architecture, making it the default mechanism for a significant category of disputes even when the parties’ contract is silent. It also creates two distinct tracks: a private, confidential ADR process and a public, precedential adjudicative system. The choice between them is not always in the parties’ hands.

Próspera itself warrants a brief introduction for readers new to the subject. Próspera ZEDE is not a conventional special economic zone. Located in Honduras, with territory on Roatán and near La Ceiba,¹ it was designed as a far more ambitious project: a private “startup city”² with its own published legal and regulatory framework. Honduras Próspera Inc., the private company behind the project, serves as its developer, organizer, and operator.