ICC Court denoted adoption of two decisions aiming to increase efficiency and transparency of ICC Arbitration proceedings.
New Year, New Policies: Towards a Better
ICC Arbitration
by Abdülkadir Güzeloğlu
5 February 2016
On 05.01.2016, ICC Court denoted adoption
of two decisions aiming to increase efficiency and transparency of ICC
Arbitration proceedings. Indeed, taking into account that concerns regarding
productivity and transparency have been obscuring the skies of arbitration, it
can be stated that this new step taken by the ICC Court constitutes an
important development.
Pursuant to the first decision, the Court
will reveal constitution of an arbitral tribunal by publishing the names, and
nationalities of the arbitrators along with whether they were appointed by a
party or the Court. Then, the name of the presiding arbitrator is to be
announced. Also these data will be published on the website of ICC and will be
updated in case of any change during the proceedings. However, reason for such
change, case reference number, names of the parties and of counsel will remain
confidential. Important is to note that, parties can opt-out of the limited
disclosure as well as have the opportunity of requesting the Court to publish
extra data about a specific case.
The second step taken by the ICC Court,
which could be qualified as dauntless, is in strong relation with one of the
renowned advantages of arbitration over traditional methods, speed.
As Article 30 of the ICC Rules stipulates
that an arbitral tribunal must render its final award in six months, the Court
further added that “ICC arbitral tribunals are expected to submit draft awards
within three months after the last substantive hearing concerning matters to be
decided in an award or, if later, the filing of the last written submissions.
If a draft award is unjustifiably submitted beyond the abovementioned deadline,
arbitrators’ fees may be lowered by the Court between the rates of 5 to 20%
depending on the exceeded number of months. Therefore, when evaluating these
decisions altogether, it is seen that the ICC Court desires to increase speed
and transparency of arbitration proceedings. Although these decisions could be
a temporary obstacle for those battling with a busy schedule, it is highly
anticipated that parameters of cost-efficiency and transparency of ICC
arbitration will advance.
Should you have any further comments,
inquiries and questions on arbitration under Rules of Arbitration of the
International Chamber of Commerce and Turkish arbitration practice, do not
hesitate to contact us at info@guzeloglu.legal