Other Arbitral Institutions

There are numerous other arbitral institutions which, although not necessarily as well known as the institutions dealt with separately on this site, have their own sets of rules. For example;

• The American Arbitration Association (“AAA”). The AAA was established in 1926 as an independent, not-for-profit association. Its Commercial Arbitration Rules are available here. In addition, the AAA also acts as an appointing authority and administers arbitrations conducted under the UNCITRAL rules. The AAA has an international arm, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (“ICDR”), in turn established in 1996. The ICDR has its own set of International Arbitration Rules under its International Dispute Resolution Procedures (which were last amended in 2014).The administrative costs of the institution (an Initial Filing Fee and a Final Fee) are based on the amount in dispute. The International Dispute Resolution Procedures are available here.
• The ICDR’s recent revisions to the International Dispute Resolution Procedures took effect from 1 June 2014 and include: (i) new procedures to expedite lower-value matters, such as automatically expediting claims worth less than US$250,000, and for claims worth less than US$100,000 to be decided on the papers alone; (ii) a requirement that final awards be made no later than 60 days after the close of proceedings; (iii) an emphasis on mediation, and allowing mediation to be scheduled independently or concurrently with the arbitration; and, (iv) new provisions on joinder and consolidation – including for applications to be made to a “consolidation arbitrator" who can consolidate two or more related arbitrations (i.e. where the claims and counterclaims are made under the same arbitration agreement – or involve the same parties, the same legal relationship, and the arbitration agreements are compatible).
• On 1 November 2013, the AAA and ICDR introduced new Optional Appellate Arbitration Rules (“Appellate Rules”) – a separate set of rules under which parties are able to obtain private review by an appellate arbitral panel of alleged “material and prejudicial” errors of law and/or “clearly erroneous” determinations of fact in an arbitral award. The appeal panel can either affirm the arbitral award under appeal, or substitute its own award. The Appellate Rules will only apply upon the express agreement of the parties, and their use is not restricted to AAA or ICDR arbitration. The Appellate Rules are available here (page not found).

Click on the links for information on the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and other Trade Associations.