The 2005 Rules of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration - Revisited

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN AUSTRALIA, L. Nottage, R. Garnett, eds., Federation Press: Sydney, 2010

Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 09/101

18 Pages Posted: 28 Sep 2009 Last revised: 28 Jul 2010

See all articles by Simon Greenberg

Simon Greenberg

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

Luke R. Nottage

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law; The University of Sydney - Australian Network for Japanese Law; University of Wollongong

Romesh Weeramantry

City University of Hong Kong (CityU)

Date Written: September 27, 2009

Abstract

A decade ago, leading arbitration institutions and practitioners responded to growing concerns about burgeoning costs and delays in international commercial arbitration ("ICA") partly through some considerable changes to Arbitration Rules. Nowadays, however, disquiet has re-emerged especially about costs. Some point to parallels with civil procedure reforms in various national court systems since the 1990s. Those may have accelerated processes, but front-loading costs does not necessarily reduce them significantly.

Arbitration institutions are again responding to similar concerns about ICA. Some have published new Expedited Arbitration Rules, Mediation Rules, or encouraged renewed debate about more controversial measures to minimise costs such as Arb-Med (arbitrators encouraging settlement). Some institutions (like the ICC) have also instituted new rounds of reforms to their generic Arbitration Rules. Sometimes, Rule changes have followed amendments to arbitration legislation in the relevant jurisdiction (as in Japan). The Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration ("ACICA") also unveiled Arbitration Rules in 2005, and then Expedited Arbitration Rules in 2008. All these recent developments are occurring as UNCITRAL proceeds with revisions to its 1976 Arbitration Rules, designed initially for ad hoc arbitrations but influential also among many arbitration institutions.

It is therefore useful for the broader development of ICA to make more widely accessible this updated overview of the 2005 ACICA Arbitration Rules, comparing developments in many major arbitral institutions world-wide. The paper is particularly timely because the ACICA Rules will be used by hundreds of mock arbitrators and advocates in the 17th Vis Moot, to be held in Vienna and Hong Kong around March 2010. This event has become one of the most important in the ICA world, training not only a new generation of arbitration experts but also exposing more established experts to new developments and ideas. Both aspects are essential to the vitality of ICA and its perennial quest for an optimal balance between efficiency and procedural justice.

Keywords: international commercial arbitration, private international law, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Australian law, legal institutions, comparative law, law reform

JEL Classification: K10, K30, K33

Suggested Citation

Greenberg, Simon and Nottage, Luke R. and Weeramantry, Romesh, The 2005 Rules of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration - Revisited (September 27, 2009). INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN AUSTRALIA, L. Nottage, R. Garnett, eds., Federation Press: Sydney, 2010, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 09/101, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1479348

Simon Greenberg

International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ( email )

38 cours Albert 1er
Paris, 75008
France

Luke R. Nottage (Contact Author)

The University of Sydney - Faculty of Law ( email )

New Law Building, F10
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

The University of Sydney - Australian Network for Japanese Law

Room 640, Building F10, Eastern Avenue
Sydney, NSW 2006
Australia

University of Wollongong ( email )

Northfields Avenue
Wollongong, New South Wales 2522
Australia

Romesh Weeramantry

City University of Hong Kong (CityU) ( email )

83 Tat Chee Avenue
Hong Kong
Hong Kong

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