International Chamber of Commerce history

"The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), founded in 1919 and headquarted in Paris, France, is the world's largest business organization with national committees worldwide. Key among its principal activities are its dispute resolution services.

"It is not necessary to be a member of ICC to benefit from its dispute resolution services. Any and all parties wishing to take advantage of the benefits of these services may do so."*

"All ICC Dispute Resolution Services are based on rules that only ICC can administer. This is particularly so for the ICC Rules of Arbitration, which can only be administered properly by the ICC Court. All of the ICC sets of rules are neutral, cost-effective and designed specifically for the resolution of international disputes. Parties choosing ICC can tailor the dispute resolution service to their particular needs thanks to a range of options. Depending on the circumstances, parties might prefer one, or a blend, of the services."*

There are various types of dispute resolutions services available:

• "Arbitration - Under the ICC Rules of Arbitration, ICC Arbitration is administered by the ICC International Court of Arbitration, assisted by the ICC Court's Secretariat. ICC Arbitration is a flexible procedure that leads to a binding decision from a neutral arbitral tribunal (unless the parties settle during the arbitration, which is common). An ICC arbitral tribunal's decision, called an award, is often complied with voluntarily by the unsuccessful party. Where there is a failure to comply, the award can be enforced in more than 145 countries around the world under both domestic and international enforcement regimes including, notably, the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
• Mediation - Under the ICC Mediation Rules, mediation proceedings are administered by the ICC International Centre for ADR, the only body empowered to administer proceedings under the these rules. Mediation is a flexible settlement technique, conducted privately and confidentially, in which a mediator acts as a neutral facilitator to help the parties arrive at a negotiated settlement of their dispute. The parties have control over both the decision to settle and the terms of any settlement agreement. Where successful, Mediation results in an agreement that is contractually binding but cannot itself be enforced internationally like an arbitral tribunal award.
• Experts - Through its International Centre for ADR, ICC offers three distinct services relating to experts and neutrals: Proposal of experts and neutrals; Appointment of experts and neutrals; Administration of expert proceedings, whereby the ICC is chosen to administer and supervise the entire expert proceedings.
  1.) Proposal of experts and neutrals , whereby the ICC puts forward the name(s) of one or more experts or neutrals upon a request from one or more parties, a court or an arbitral tribunal;
  2.) Appointment of experts and neutrals , whereby the ICC makes an appointment that is binding upon the requesting parties;
  3.) Administration of expert proceedings , whereby the ICC is chosen to administer and supervise the entire expert proceedings.
• Dispute Boards - Under ICC Rules Dispute Boards are administered under the supervision of the ICC International Centre for ADR. An ICC Dispute Board is a standing body with one or three members that helps resolve disagreements and disputes in medium- and long-term contracts. ICC Dispute Boards are widely used in global construction and infrastructure projects, and other fields such as information technology and intellectual property.
  With an ICC Dispute Board in place, contracting parties can enjoy reduced dispute resolution costs, and avoid expensive delays and disruption. ICC Dispute Boards may informally assist parties to overcome disagreements, while providing recommendations and decisions on any disputes that arise and are referred to them.
• DOCDEX - Under the ICC Rules for Documentary Instruments Dispute Resolution Expertise, DOCDEX is administered by the ICC International Centre for ADR. DOCDEX is a fast, cost-effective and straightforward way of settling letter of credit disputes. DOCDEX also helps to resolve disagreements arising from other instruments, such as bank-to-bank reimbursements and collections. A panel of three, hand-picked, independent experts assesses each DOCDEX case according to the relevant ICC banking rules. To ensure compliance with the rules, the decision is checked by a technical expert from the ICC Commission on Banking Technique and Practice. If all parties agree, the panel's decisions can be made contractually binding." *

        * from the ICC Dispute Resolution Services website

ICC DISPUTE RESOLUTION LIBRARY

Look at this website if you are searching for an ICC award and don't know if it is public or where to locate it. The ICC has allowed certain journals to publish extracts of certain awards. 

ICC Awards: Note that some content will require an account (Subscription information). Even if you are not a subscriber, you can search for awards and learn if and where they were published.

"This section contains:

- all extracts from ICC arbitral awards that have been published in the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin from 1990 to date. They provide examples of the decisions that have been made by ICC arbitrators since 1985 in a wide variety of subject areas.

- summaries of ICC arbitral awards originally published in the Cahiers de l’arbitrage of the Gazette du Palais. These summaries are reproduced with the kind permission of the Cahiers de l’arbitrage of the Gazette du Palais.

Between December 1990 and May 1995, Awards were published in the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin in both English and French. Since 1995, they have been published only in their original language where this was English, French or, since 2013, Spanish. Details not indispensable for the intelligibility of the decision may have been expunged from the original text. Names of parties and other persons have been removed or replaced." *

The following subject list provides quick links to arbitral awards of key subjects of interest:

Choice of law

Competition

Construction

Corruption

Dispute Board

Energy

Incoterms

Insolvency

Insurance

Intellectual Property

Interim Measures

Interpretation

Jurisdiction

Mergers & Acquisitions

Multi-tier Dispute Resolution

Shipping

State Contract

UNIDROIT Principles

* from the ICC website