1. Introduction: new expedited arbitration procedure under the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC

A new version of the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC 2012 entered into force on 1st March 2017, which are directly applicable to all arbitration agreements concluded after said date. The most relevant amendments of the Rules following this express reform include the creation of an expedited procedure in order to resolve conflicts involving amounts of no more than two million US dollars, which is regulated in Appendix 6 of the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC, to which article 30 of the Rules refers (“Rules of the Expedited Procedure”).

2. Scope of application

In accordance with article 30 of the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC, the expedited procedure is automatically applicable when the arbitration agreement, which the parties submit to ICC arbitration has concluded after 1st March 2017, unless the parties have expressly excluded this possibility (via an opt-out clause) or the ICC Court – at the request of one of the parties before the constitution of the arbitral tribunal or upon its own motion –  determines that such proceedings are inappropriate in light of the circumstances of the case.

Likewise, those parties who wish to resolve their disputes via an expedited procedure, irrespective of the amount in dispute, in the interest of playing for time or money, may expressly opt for the application of such procedures, thus including an opt-in clause in their arbitration agreement.

3. Characteristic features

The most characteristic features of the expedited procedure concern the composition of the arbitral tribunal and the timing of the procedure:

  • Regarding the composition of the arbitral tribunal, it should be born in mind that the ICC Court may appoint a sole arbitrator, even in those cases whereby the arbitration agreement establishes a different number (for example, three) and, thus the wishes of the parties are opposed.
  • Likewise, in accordance with article 3 of the Expedited Procedure Rules:
  • The Terms of Reference provided for in article 23 of the ICC Rules (in which, usually the claims of the parties and the issues in dispute, amongst other matters, are briefly summarised).
  • the case management conference shall take place, at the latest, 15 days following the date upon which the case had been filed with the arbitral tribunal.
  • the arbitral tribunal, after consulting the parties, may establish limitations upon the written documents.
  • the arbitral tribunal, after consulting the parties, may decide the dispute only upon the basis of the documents submitted by the parties with no hearing and no examination of witnesses or experts.
  • and when a hearing is held, the arbitral tribunal may be conducted by video conference, telephone or by a similar means of communication.
  • Finally, the term of six months for the arbitral tribunal (probably a sole arbitrator) to render its final award is maintained at six months (the same as for an ordinary procedure), even though the term starts as from the date of the case management conference instead of the date of signing the Terms of Reference (given that this does not take place in the expedited procedure).

4. Conclusion

In summary, the expedited procedure has been introduced for the sake of offering a more simplified procedure to which a lower fee schedule is applied in order to achieve, as stated by Alexis Mourre, president of the Court, that “disputes are resolved in a quicker and more profitable manner”.

 

 

Carla Villavicencio

Vilá Abogados

 

For more information, please contact:

va@vila.es

 

28th April 2017