Significant amendments, which will improve efficiency and expedite proceedings regulated under ICC Rules of Arbitration ("ICC Rules”) came into force on 1 March 2017.
In General
Article 30 of the ICC Rules of Arbitration and the "Expedited Procedure Provisions" stipulated under Annex VI are the most remarkable amendments on ICC Rules. This procedure will now automatically apply to all arbitration proceedings that are executed on or after March 1, 2017 with a subject matter for amount of USD 2 million at maximum. Parties will be able to opt in even for the disputes for more than USD 2 million.
Expedited Procedure could be summarized as follows:
- Disputes will be held by a sole arbitrator regardless of the arbitration agreement.
- Terms of Reference will not be prepared.
- Sole arbitrator now has the authority to limit the number, page counts and scope of written declarations and may bypass the document production; and resolve the dispute by solely examining the petitions, without requiring hearings, witnesses and experts.
- Case Management Conference will take place within 15 days. The final award-rendering period is 6 months starting from the execution of Case Management Conference.
- Although the administrative costs are the same as the regular arbitral procedure, sole arbitrator fees will be approximately 20% lower than the regular fee schedule.
- In any case, the ICC Court has the authority to determine if the Expedited Procedure are applicable for a dispute on its own motion or upon one of the parties’ request.
- Parties who wish to avoid Expedited Procedure may simply opt-out of these provisions by clearly stating such exclusion in their arbitration agreement.
By Efe Kinikoglu, Partner, and Ekinsu Cebi, Trainee Lawyer, Moral Law Firm
