Many arbitrations in the United States are governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), which applies to any arbitration affecting interstate commerce (generally defined as commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, which is regulated by the federal government according to powers set out in Article I of the Constitution) or international commerce. Each state typically has its own arbitration statute as well. However, a state statute generally applies only where the FAA is silent or if the dispute is entirely local to a particular state. The FAA bears some similarity to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. However, there are important differences. For instance, unlike the Model Law, the FAA provides different grounds for vacating an award and also contains some default rules of procedure where the parties fail to agree to a governing set of rules.

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