International Arbitration - International Commercial Arbitration

International Commercial Arbitration

The resolution of disputes under international commercial contracts is widely conducted under the auspices of several major international institutions and rule making bodies. The most significant are the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), JAMS International, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the international branch of the American Arbitration Association), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). Specialist ADR bodies also exist, such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), which has an arbitration and mediation center and a panel of international neutrals specialising in intellectual property and technology related disputes. See http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/.

A number of arbitral institutions have adopted the UNCITRAL Rules for use in international cases.

The most salient feature of the rules of the ICC is its use of the "terms of reference." The “terms of reference” is a summary of the claims and issues in dispute and the particulars of the procedure, and it is prepared by the tribunal and signed by the parties near the beginning of the proceedings.

In a more recent development, the Swiss Chambers of Commerce of Industry of Basel, Berne, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Neuchâtel and Zurich have adopted a new set of Swiss Rules of Commercial Mediation that are designed to integrate fully with the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration that were previously adopted by these chambers to harmonize international arbitration and mediation proceedings across Switzerland. For a recent paper on these two sets of ADR rules and how they may be combined, see http://www.altenburger.ch/uploads/tx_altenburger/jl_2008_Swiss_Rules_Commercial_Mediation.pdf.