The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has recently announced two major decisions.  First, for cases registered on and after January 1, 2016, the Court will now publish on its website the names of the arbitrators sitting in ICC cases, their nationality, whether the appointment was made by the Court or by the parties, and which arbitrator is the tribunal chairperson.  The case reference number and the names of the parties and of counsel, however, will not be published in order to preserve confidentiality.  Parties can, by mutual agreement, opt out of this limited disclosure.

Second, the Court has released a note which states that ICC arbitral tribunals must submit draft awards within three months after the last substantive hearing concerning matters to be decided in an award, or, if later, the filing of the last written submissions.  The time frame will be set at two months for cases heard by sole arbitrators.  For example, for draft awards submitted up to 10 months after the last substantive hearing or written submissions, the fees that the Court would otherwise have considered fixing are reduced by 10 to 20%.  Mr. Alexis Mourre, president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, explained that “[b]y releasing this new note, we send a clear signal to tribunals that unjustified delays will not be tolerated, and we provide transparency on the consequences that the Court will draw from such situations.”  These new policies further promote the goal of the expeditious resolution of disputes.