By replacing ICC’s Amicable Dispute Resolution Rules, the Mediation Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce came into play.

The Icc Mediation Rules are effective when two Parties truly wish to settle a dispute. Under the ICC Arbitration Rules, arbitration leads to a binding decision from an independent and neutral tribunal. The ICC Mediation procedure helps the Parties reach a settlement agreement with the participation of a neutral facilitator.

The mediation under the ICC Mediation Rules may be provided as a preliminary dispute settlement mechanism by the International Chamber of Commerce in the same clause of the contract, called an escalation clause or a multi-tiered dispute resolution clause.

There is a continuous involvement of clauses in international construction and engineering contracts and, while the ICC Mediation Rules only provide for two levels (mediation followed by arbitration). These clauses can be tailored to the needs of the parties.

These clauses first provide for informal discussions between technicians, then that their respective managers meet and negotiate. The higher level of managers next mediate under the ICC Mediation Rules, and finally that the parties resort to arbitration only if ICC mediation fails. These clauses may also provide for expert adjudication, dispute review expert, dispute adjudication board, or dispute review board, and ultimately provide for international arbitration.

For each step of the clause especially if there are numerous steps to the process, it is important to provide for a timeframe, in order to indicate when one-step has failed. It is time to move to the next one, as the jurisdiction of the tribunal will ultimately depend on the parties’ respect of the provisions of the dispute resolution clause. Escalation clauses should also remain as simple as possible, so that no differing interpretations of the steps that are required can be claimed when a dispute arises.

According to the Article 2 Appendix III (Arbitration Costs and Fees), lawyers should explain to their clients that, in the event of a multi-tiered dispute resolution clause providing for arbitration and mediation under the ICC Mediation Rules, and mediation fails, one half of the ICC administrative expenses paid for these proceedings are credited to the ICC administrative expenses of the arbitration, pursuant to the ICC Arbitration Rules.

For more information, contact a renowned ICC arbitration lawyer of Aceris Law. Their lawyers have served as counsel in dozens of ICC arbitrations, establishing an excellent record of accomplishment in the process. For instance, they recently served as counsel in a successful multi-party ICC arbitration on behalf of Canadian client under English law involving the construction of an industrial plant in Saudi Arabia, where their client was awarded all damages and the USD 131 million counterclaims was defeated. They also recently represented a client from Singapore in ICC arbitration under French law that was settled on highly favorable terms. Thus, Aceris Law ensures that, the arbitrations involving ICC are handled efficiently and more cost-effectively than was traditionally possible by having a dedicated, multilingual team for arbitrations concerning ICC.