Hong Kong Court Rejects Apparent Bias Challenge Based On Arbitrator’s Previous Writings

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance has dismissed a foreign State’s challenge to an arbitrator in an HKIAC-administered bilateral investment treaty (BIT) investor-State arbitration seated in Hong Kong (R v. C, [2026] HKCFI 4688). 

The respondent State challenged the arbitrator appointed by the claimant investor based on three grounds: the arbitrator’s previous writings on most-favoured nation (MFN) clauses, his multiple appointments in cases against the State, and his connection to the investor’s home State. The court rejected all three grounds and held, in particular, that the arbitrator’s scholarly writings did not show that he had prejudged the MFN issue in the BIT arbitration.

The judgment demonstrates that, while the Hong Kong courts will scrutinise arbitrator challenges carefully, they will not lightly infer apparent bias from an arbitrator’s academic work, appointments in unrelated arbitrations, or nationality-based connections.