One of the first priorities of the Commission when it decided to draft a Model Law was to include an express provision that recognised the parties’ freedom to choose their own rules of procedure. As the purpose of a Model Law was to contribute to the harmonisation of international arbitration, it was crucial that it met ‘the concerns which have repeatedly been expressed … in international commercial arbitration’. One of those concerns was precisely the existence of provisions that ‘unduly restrict the freedom of the parties to … conduct the proceedings as deemed appropriate taking into account the parties’ wishes’.