BCDR International Arbitration Review turns to new arbitration rules for its seventh issue

The latest issue of the BCDR International Arbitration Review offers readers a collection of commentaries by leading arbitration specialists on BCDR-AAA’s 2017 arbitration rules. The eight commentaries cover the provisions regulating parties’ written submissions, summary procedure, expedited arbitration, appointments and challenges of arbitrators, interim and emergency measures of protection, truncated tribunals, the conduct of proceedings, the determination of the place of arbitration and the applicable law, and party representation. The issue also includes the rules themselves in English and French.

The full table of contents can be viewed here.

This is the first of two issues analyzing the BCDR-AAA’s new arbitration rules, which took effect on October 1, 2017. The second issue will contain commentaries on other provisions, as well as the Arabic version of the rules.

In his Foreword to this first issue on the 2017 rules, Professor Nassib G. Ziadé, BCDR’s CEO and General Editor of the BCDR International Arbitration Review, explains the reasons for introducing new arbitration rules and the process leading to their adoption.

In late 2015, BCDR’s Board of Trustees tasked a rules review committee comprising Professor Ziadé, former Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) Adrian Winstanley OBE, and former Deputy Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Antonio R. Parra, with preparing revised arbitration rules. The committee took account of the 2010 BCDR-AAA Arbitration Rules, the 2010 UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and the most recent rules of other leading international and regional arbitration institutions. It also collected feedback from current and potential users and ensured that the rules were suitably tailored to local and regional needs.

The French version of the rules was prepared by Fady Béchara (attorney-at-law, Lebanon) and Professor Ziadé, and the Arabic version by Ahmed Husain (BCDR’s Chief Operating Officer), Faris K. Nesheiwat (attorney-at-law, Jordan) and Professor Ziadé.

Ziadé describes the two years of collective work that went into creating BCDR-AAA’s 2017 arbitration rules as “a great example of international teamwork bridging cultural, linguistic, and legal traditions,” adding that the resulting rules derive their strength from the quality of the combined input of current and former institutional leaders highly experienced in the drafting of rules and administration of cases, the leading practitioners in the region and elsewhere who generously provided feedback on the draft, and the distinguished lawyers who worked on the translations.

Published by Wolters Kluwer, the BCDR International Arbitration Review was launched in 2014 with the aim of broadening and increasing knowledge and understanding of the law and procedures of international dispute settlement. Back issues of the Review can be viewed here.