ICCA is a worldwide non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting and developing arbitration, conciliation and other forms of international dispute resolution. The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) is a worldwide organization devoted to promoting the use and improving the processes of arbitration, conciliation and other forms of resolving international disputes. Its ac
tivities include convening international arbitration congresses and conferences, sponsoring authoritative dispute resolution publications, and promoting the harmonization of arbitration and conciliation rules, laws, procedures and standards. ICCA’s Statement of Purposes and Procedures provides that the Governing Board Members “shall be elected from various parts of the world, from different legal and economic systems, and from developed as well as developing nations.” At present, there are 41 Governing Board Members and 17 Advisory Members from 33 different countries. ICCA Members are law graduates and graduates of other disciplines specializing in dispute resolution, and are eligible for appointment to the Governing Board. ICCA’s young practitioner’s grouping, Young ICCA, aims to expose new practitioners from all corners of the globe to the international practice of arbitration through a mentoring programme, skills training workshops and regional desk activities. An ICCA Congress or Conference is held every second year for the presentation and discussion of papers on different aspects of international dispute resolution. These meetings attract a large number of participants from all parts of the world, and have made significant contributions to the development of dispute resolution theory and practice. Following the 2014 Congress in Miami, the 2018 ICCA Congress will be held in Sydney, Australia. In an effort to “promote the harmonization of arbitration”, ICCA has formed several project committees made up of ICCA Members. These committees currently include:
• A project to develop ICCA Protocols for Fair and Efficient Arbitration, establishing sensible default rules for many of the common logistical aspects of arbitration proceedings.
• A Joint Taskforce on Third Party Funding in International Arbitration with the new Centre on Regulation, Ethics and Rule of Law at Queen Mary, University of London.
• A Joint Taskforce with the American Society of International Law to evaluate and report on the topic of issue conflict in international arbitration and make recommendations on best practices going forward.
• A series of colloquia for judges on the New York Convention known as the “New York Convention Roadshow”, organised and presented by ICCA’s Judicial Committee. ICCA’s principal publications, prepared with the assistance of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, include the Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, the International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration, the ICCA Congress Series (consisting of the papers presented at the biennial congresses) and ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention (available in multiple translations). ICCA also co-sponsors KluwerArbitration Online, a fully searchable database in the field of international commercial arbitration. ICCA is not an arbitral institution: it does not administer arbitrations or act as appointing authority. ICCA welcomes all dispute resolution professionals committed to promoting and developing international dispute resolution to join ICCA and contribute to its work.
