Art. 14 deals with the qualities of Panel members. The first paragraph lists the qualities all designees must possess. The second paragraph states additional requirements with respect to Panel members designated by the Chairman (Art. 5).

General Qualities of Panel Members

The Working Paper and the Preliminary Draft to the Convention referred to high moral character and recognized competence in the fields of law, commerce, industry or finance as required qualities. Before making designations, States were to seek advice from appropriate institutions in their countries (History, Vol. I, pp. 72, 74). The obligation to seek advice was dropped after a brief discussion (History, Vol. II, pp. 144, 385/6, 486/7, 562). The requirement of high moral character led to a number of questions. Mr. Broches explained that the phrase had been taken from the Statute of the International Court of Justice (at pp. 144, 728/9, 753, 969, 970). There was also some debate about the competence and qualifications of Panel members. Suggestions to spell these out in more detail or to introduce a screening process did not succeed (at pp. 253, 254, 318, 385, 386, 485, 487, 489, 562, 727, 728, 753).

The legal qualifications of persons on the Panel of Arbitrators received special attention. As a result, a second sentence was added to Art. 14(1) emphasizing the importance of legal competence for persons on the Panel of Arbitrators (History, Vol. I, p. 74; Vol. II, pp. 489, 729/30, 753, 935).