The Judiciarys Law Journal

The Judiciarys Law Journal

Examining the Legal Status of Unfair Arbitration Clause with an Emphasis on Consumption Contract

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular Article

Author
Assistant Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University
10.22106/jlj.2025.2063998.6328
Abstract
Inequality of bargaining power of parties to the legal relationship may stem from dominant and superior position of one party toward the other one which disturb contractual balance. Therefore it leads to the inclusion of some terms and conditions to the contract including with consumers which attract policy makers and judicial precedent attraction due to their standard and nonnegotiable manner, although they seem as a stipulation. These terms, significantly disadvantageous to the weaker party to the contract, are examined as Unfair Terms in different legal systems and Iranian legislator has confronted them in specific laws. Among them, it is Unfair Arbitration Clause which transforms dispute resolution mechanism to an unbalanced process which abuses the weaker party lack of bargaining power and his urgency. This article using an analytical- descriptive analysis concludes that considering unfair terms' general rule in Iran's legal system, it is possible to expand the required rule to unfair arbitration clause – including ineffectiveness or annulment- when there is a specific law. However in the absence of a specific law, unfair arbitration clause is subject to general rules of contracts including Art. 206 and 975 of Civil Code and general rules of arbitration law which the court will proceed to examine the issue in each case.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 30 June 2026

  • Receive Date 22 June 2025
  • Revise Date 02 October 2025
  • Accept Date 19 October 2025
  • First Publish Date 30 June 2026
  • Publish Date 30 June 2026