International Judicial Monitor
Published by the International Judicial Academy, Washington, D.C., with assistance from the
American Society of International Law
Spring 2015 Issue
 

International Tribunal Spotlight

 

International Court of Arbitration 
International Court of Arbitration 

The International Court of Arbitration is one of the oldest international dispute resolution organizations in the world. It was established in 1923 by the International Chamber of Commerce, and still functions as a part of the operations and activities of that organiation. The “Court” as it is simply known, is located in Paris, France. A former French Minister of Finance, Etienne Clematel, provided the leadership for its creation.

The Court is not actually a dispute resolution tribunal. It was established and engages in the following activities in support of its primary purpose of assisting parties in the establishment and conduct of arbitrations. It has outlined the kinds of services its provides, as follows:

  • Fixing the place of arbitration
  • Assessing whether there is a prima facie ICC Arbitration agreement
  • Taking certain necessary decisions in complex multi-party or multi- contract arbitrations
  • Confirming, appointing and replacing arbitrators
  • Deciding on any challenges filed against an arbitrator
  • Monitoring the arbitral process from the filing of the request for arbitration to the notification of the final award, to ensure that the arbitration proceeds in accordance with the Rules and with the required commitment to diligence and efficiency
  • Scrutinizing and approving all arbitral awards, in the interests of improving their quality and enforceability
  
  • Setting, managing and, if necessary, adjusting costs of the arbitration, including the ICC administrative expenses and the arbitrators’ fees and expenses
  • Overseeing emergency arbitrator proceedings

The Court has one President and 16 Vice-Presidents. The current President of the Court is John Beechey of the United Kingdom. There are 124 members of the Court representing 88 countries. Members of the Court provide the arbitrators for the Court.

The day to day work of the Court is done through a Secretariat headed by a Secretary General. The Secretariat has a permanent staff of more than 80 lawyers and support personnel.

Nine case management teams of the Secretariat deal with cases from different regions or language groups. There are seven case management teams located in the Paris offices, one is located in Hong Kong, and one is located in New York in the United States.  The Secretary General assigns a new arbitration case to one of the case management teams, considering the character of the arbitration, including the nationality and languages of the parties; the place of arbitration and the laws under which the arbitration will be conducted. The case management team is the main point of contact between the Court and the arbitration parties and panel.

A case management team consists of a Counsel, two or three deputy counsels, and administrative assistants.

The Court has developed its own rules to be applied to arbitrations conducted by it.

The use of the Court has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. The number of cases in the Court now exceeds 600 per year.

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ASIl & International Judicial AcademyInternational Judicial Monitor
© 2015 – The International Judicial Academy
with assistance from the American Society of International Law.

Editor: James G. Apple.
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