Since the beginning of the Working Group deliberations, there was general agreement among the delegates and observers that the Model Law should recognise the stipulations of the parties regarding the procedure for challenging an arbitrator. After all, arbitration is a creature of contract and the principle of party autonomy is one of its pillars. On the other hand, members of the Working Group were less agreeable about the idea of providing access to the courts ‘in cases where the stipulated procedure led to a deadlock’, or simply because ‘the final decision on a challenge should always lie with a court’.