The National Commercial Arbitration Centre (NCAC) is a non-profit institution based in Phnom Penh and was established under the 2006 Law on Commercial Arbitration. It officially commenced operations in 2013 to provide businesses with a commercial dispute resolution alternative to the conventional court system. The future of NCAC is promising due to the increase in demand of such resolution attributed by Cambodia’s fast-growing economy which saw a significant increase in commercial transactions as well as dispute arising thereof. NCAC aims to become one of the leading regional arbitration institutions in the foreseeable future.

While a majority of businesses already favor arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism to their commercial transactions, not all businesses are willing to choose international or regional arbitration centers notwithstanding their reputations. High costs incurred by proceedings conducted at these international or regional centers are sometimes disproportionate to the size of certain disputes. While it is possible for these regional centers to hear disputes on Cambodian law matters, it is not an ideal option for parties who wish to conduct the proceedings in Khmer language. In cases of dispute which involve voluminous documents in Khmer language, it is not always practical, even though not impossible, to conduct the proceedings in other languages which require a lot of document translation. The features offered by NCAC address all those constraints. In addition, under NCAC Rules, it is possible to conduct arbitration proceedings in any language. Since Cambodia is a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Awards, an award issued by NCAC is enforceable in more than 160 countries in the same way as if it is an award issued by any international or regional center.